Gardner and OBU win big, again

A young woman with curly brown hair is sitting and smiling in a leather chair.

Students from OBU’s Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences continued to add to their impressive success, winning another Psi Chi Regional Research Award this year.

Sydney Gardner received a Psi Chi Regional Research Award this spring for her study titled “Native Americans, College Students, and Job Interview Self-Efficacy.”

This study focused on job interview self-efficacy and the differences in levels of self-efficacy that may exist in Native American cultures versus non-Native American cultures. It researched two populations using the Multi-Dimensional Job Interview Self-Efficacy Scale (MJISE). One population consisted of undergraduate students and the other consisted of public-school teachers. The results were then compared based on the students’ Native Status, gender, and classification.

“I was excited to be recognized for my achievement,” said Gardner, who graduated on Saturday, May 18, 2024, with a degree in psychology and a minor in women’s ministry. “This area of research is quite new, and it is encouraging to know that the broader psychological community sees the need for this type of research.”

Gardner’s accomplishment continues more than ten years of success for OBU students in the Psi Chi Southwestern region. Since 2012, OBU psychology students have received 12 Psi Chi Regional Research Awards. This is more than any other school in the Southwestern Region, and it has the fifth-highest number of awards across all regional conferences in the US.