Athens, Ga. – Katherine Raczynski, a University of Georgia educational psychology graduate student, has received the 2010 Outstanding Student Scholarship Award from a division of the American Psychological Association.
Raczynski, a third-year doctoral student in the research, evaluation, measurement and statistics program of the College of Education’s department of educational psychology and instructional technology, was recognized by the APA’s School Psychology division for her research on sixth-grade predictors of high school dropout.
Since 2002, Raczynski has worked with Dean Andy Horne, a Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus in counseling and Pamela Orpinas, a professor in the College of Public Health on a series of related research projects funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The current project, Healthy Teens, has received two rounds of federal funding-the latest in 2008 for $749,231 over three years.
Last year, Raczynski received two awards from the APA Society of Counseling Psychology Prevention Section: the Graduate Student Prevention Research Award and the Prevention Research Award. In 2008, she received a first place award (Quantitative Division) in the UGA Graduate Student Research Conference.
Raczynski, a native of Atlanta, has two earlier degrees from UGA’s College of Education. She earned a B.S.Ed. in social science education and an M.A. in educational psychology with a focus on research, evaluation, measurement and statistics.
She hopes to finish her doctorate by May 2011 and after she graduates would like to continue to conduct scholarship at a university as a part of a research team.
“I enjoy the collaborative and collegial atmosphere of the university,” she said. “I want to use my training in educational development, research methodology and assessment to work toward making all schools places where students are fostered in healthy academic and social development.”
