First Year Student Success Initiative: Academic Support Services Working Group Charge

Student success is central to UMaine\u27s mission, values, reputation and fiscal health. Improving first-year student success is a major focus for Academic Affairs and Student Affairs in 2018- 2019. On September 27, the Office of the Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs & Provost launched the public phase of this initiative. The goal: to develop an integrated plan of actions that will result in improved first year student success as defined by first year retention. Charge to Academic Support Services: Develop a set of recommendations about ways that our student academic support services can better serve first year students

Can an Evaluation of Students’ Stress Levels Help us Manage Anxiety During OSCEs and Other Assessment Modalities?

With an increased awareness of mental health issues, in both the student population and the veterinary profession in general, it is important that we obtain a greater understating of the stress experienced by students so as to better prepare them to deal with stress and ameliorate any negative effects it may have on performance. This study aims to characterise various measurements of stress (e.g. HRV, EEG, cortisol, self-report questionnaire) in students within the School of Veterinary Medicine in familiar test modalities, focussing on OSCE assessment. We would also investigate how performance is impacted and what potential factors may influence stress levels. Ultimately, our aim would be to evaluate intervention strategies to assess if students stress levels and performance can be improved

Fear Reduction Processes in Imaginal and In Vivo Flooding: A Comment on James\u27 Review

The research comparing imaginal and in vivo exposure in the treatment of clinically significant fear, recently reviewed by James (1986), is reexamined from the perspective of bioinformational theory and the concept of emotional processing. Fear is assumed to be stored in long term memory as a network of propositionally-coded information, which has to be processed if treatment is to be successful. Emotional processing is indicated by activation of fear responses and their habituation within and across treatment sessions. Consistent with the theory, our review indicates that successful treatment via imaginal and in vivo exposure is indeed related to activation and habituation of fear responses; interference with processing has a negative impact upon fear reduction, regardless of the specific treatment techniques employed. Furthermore, some apparently discrepant findings in the available research literature can be understood in terms of the theories cited. These ideas provide a useful perspective from which to plan future research efforts and to advance our understanding of the processes underlying reduction of pathological fear

A Call to Action: Maine’s Colleges and Universities Respond to an Aging Population

Jeffrey E. Hecker and Marilyn R. Gugliucci report on the findings of the Higher Education Workgroup, which is part of the Maine Aging Initiative. They present summary information on aging-related research, gerontology/geriatrics educational curricula, and educational opportunities for older adults including retooling for employment

UMaine Veterans Support Network

The University provides support to veterans and their families and also outreaches to the campus and greater community in support of veterans. UMaine’s VETS Center is located on the ground floor of the Memorial Union and we continue to work closely with the Bangor Vets Center. Memo lists Veteran\u27s services resources

Application of Imagery Theory to Sport Psychology: Some Preliminary Findings

Bioinformational theory has been proposed by Lang (1979a), who suggests that mental images can be understood as products of the brain\u27s information processing capacity. Imagery involves activation of a network of propositionally coded information stored in long-term memory. Propositions concerning physiological and behavioral responses provide a prototype for overt behavior. Processing of response information is associated with somatovisceral arousal. The theory has implications for imagery rehearsal in sport psychology and can account for a variety of findings in the mental practice literature. Hypotheses drawn from bioinformational theory were tested. College athletes imagined four scenes during which their heart rates were recorded. Subjects tended to show increases in heart rate when imagining scenes with which they had personal experience and which would involve cardiovascular activation if experienced in real life. Nonsignificant heart rate changes were found when the scene involved activation but was one with which subjects did not have personal experience