University of Iowa Center for Marital and Family Studies

university of iowa Center for Marital and Family Studies

Professor:Erika Lawrence, PhD

Office: 122 Seashore Hall East

Phone: x52417

E-Mail:

What I Hope You Will Gain from Working in This Lab:

General opportunities:

You may sign up for 3 hours of course credit for each semester in which you work in the lab.

You will have the opportunity to work directly with and get to know both a professor and graduate studentsin clinical psychology.

We will discuss your career options with a bachelor’s degree in psychology (e.g., Clinical Psychology Ph.D., Personality and Social psychology Ph.D., Counseling Psychology Ph.D., Counseling Education, Ed.D, Marriage and Family Therapist (MFT),Clinical Psychology Psy.D., Master’s in Social Work (MSW), School Psychology Ph.D., or School Counseling Ph.D).

Opportunities specific to those of you considering research careers:

You will learn what you need to do to get into a graduate program such as a clinical or social psychologyPh.D. program.

You will have the opportunity to obtain a letter of recommendation for graduate school or for fellowships.

You will have the opportunity to become knowledgeable about the existing literature on coupleand family relations.

You will get to participate in a research project from start to finish. That is, you will participate in a project from the development of ideas through implementing the study to getting a paper published.

At the end of two semesters, you may be invited to conduct your own research project in the lab such as an Honors Thesis.

You may present your own lab-related research at a conference, which will help you get into graduate school.

You may publish your own lab-related research in psychology journals, which will help you get into graduate school.

Opportunities specific to those of you considering clinical (therapy) careers:

For those of you who will be conducting clinical interviews with the subjects in one of the studies, you will learn basic therapeutic techniques such as active listening skills, how to build rapport with a client, how to make reflections, and how to balance the need to get specific information with the need to maintain rapport.

You will have the opportunity to become knowledgeable about existing interventions for relationships and families.

You will have the opportunity to attend multi-day workshops to learn how to conduct ACT therapy.

What IExpect from You as Membersof This Lab:

You have agreed to be a member of the lab for either 3 semesters or 2 semesters and 1 summer.

Every semester, lab meetings are held Monday morningsfrom 10:00 to 11:30. This time will be used to learn new tasks for the project, to check in on everyone’s progress, to discuss articles relevant to research or treatment of couples and families, to discuss graduate school, etc.I expect you to attend all of these meetings. If for some reason you cannot attend a meeting, please contact me in advance and let me know. Also, if you miss a meeting, you are still responsible for any information that was discussed at the meeting.

You must check your uiowa email account at least once a day, as this is the primary way I will communicate with you.

Each of you will work for 9 hours each week on various tasks, including lab meetings. We will set a schedule so that you have set hours during which you work each week. I would like you to work in pairs during your first month or so in the lab.

Once I am confident that you are skilled at a task, you will be able to work on the evenings and weekends if you wish. For those of you who have unique circumstances where you need to work in the evenings or on weekends, we can discuss this individually.

We will set up a schedule so that you have set hours for each week. If some unusual circumstance arrives and you cannot work your hours one week, contact me in advance and we will set up a way for you to make the hours up the following week.

Please obtain a key to Stuit Hall, and to our lab rooms in Stuit, from Becky Huber in the main office. If you are the last person working that day, you will need to lock up all doors. Never leave any doors unlocked when you leave the area.

If I have assigned a task to you – or you have volunteered for a task – I expect you to complete the task within the time frame allotted. I expect you to show initiative, to attempt to problem solve when faced with a new task, to ask questions when you do not know how to do something, and to follow through on tasks. I expect you to attend to detail and complete every task, no matter how minor it seems, in a professional way. I expect you to be reliable and dependable.

You are welcome to use the lab rooms to study or complete your own work. You may print materials and use the lab computers. However, please use your judgment (e.g., do not print hundreds of pages in the lab).

Security Issues:

To avoid viruses, please do not open any E-mails with unknown attachments in the lab.