Theresa Wadkins was chosen as the 2011 commencement speaker to represent graduating University College students. Theresa Wadkins will graduate from Nebraska Wesleyan University this spring with a Master in Forensic Science, with an emphasis in the behavioral sciences. She has a strong GPA, exemplifying University College’s commitment to academic excellence. The MFS is Dr. Wadkin’s third graduate degree, as she also has an M.S. in Clinical Psychology, and a PhD. In Educational Psychology. She has been an Associate Professor at the University of Nebraska-Kearney since 1990. Dr Wadkins completed her PhD while teaching full-time and living 150 miles from the school. She did not see the PhD, as so many of us do, as a “terminal degree”, but started classes for her second master’s in 2008. She completed this degree also while working full-time and commuting between Kearney and Lincoln for classes. Dr. Wadkins clearly exemplifies University College’s commitment to both academic excellence and learning as a lifelong process.
Theresa Wadkins (Behavioral Sciences track) presented her final research project “Campus Security Officers’ Perceptions of Stalking Behavior this spring at the Rocky Mountain Psychological Association Eightieth Annual Convention in Denver Colorado. The study investigates campus security officers’ identification of and response to potential stalking situations on campus. The campus security officers from two mid-western universities answered questionnaires where they identified whether or not given situations were stalking cases.