Southern Miss Psychology

100% of our psychology students applying for pre-doctoral internships were successfully matched with a site! 🎉👏

These 16 Golden Eagles matched among the 4,358 students competing nationally for placements. After five years at Southern Miss, these internships are the last step until they become full blown psychologists.

We are so proud of the students and faculty in our accredited Clinical Psychology PhD, Counseling Psychology and USM School Psychology programs!

Learn more: usm.edu/news/2026/releases/match-day.php

Amazing work Karoline!

Congratulation to Karoline Calongne on successfully proposing her master’s thesis project today!

Congrats to Saba Shahid, recipient of the Outstanding Graduate Research Award for the School of Psychology! 🎉👏🦅

Saba is an Experimental Psychology USM Ph.D. candidate from Pakistan. She is passionate about applying research to real-world problems and advancing psychological science.

Her research stands out for integrating moral psychology with politically and socially consequential reproductive health issues, supported by both a competitive Proposal Project Award and a Dissertation Completion Grant from The University of Southern Mississippi Graduate School. In parallel, Saba’s cross-national research on period poverty (U.S., Pakistan and India) has received the Peggy Jean Connor Competition Award at USM and moved beyond academia through collaboration with the Alliance For Period Supplies, including a national webinar and invited policy-focused campus talk.

Outside of her studies and research, Saba is very involved at the University, including participation and leadership in the Center for Women & Leadership Student Advisory Council, Center for Student Success, Pakistani Student Organization, Muslim Student Association, Graduate Students of Color Alliance - Usm Gsoca, Association for Psychological Science Student Caucus, and The Southeastern Psychological Association Annual Conference.

Saba’s research and campus engagement contributed to her selection as a recipient of the PEO International Peace Scholarship, which supports international women pursuing graduate education in North America to foster global peace through education.

After graduation this spring, Saba’s goal is to pursue a career in academia as a professor, advancing research on women’s health, reproductive decision-making and gender equity.

Congrats to Ean Fisher, Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award recipient for the School of Psychology! 🎉👏🦅

Ean transferred to Southern Miss from Meridian Community College to major in psychology and study in the Southern Miss Honors College.

He is a member of Psi Chi honor society and a research assistant for the Perception Action Cognition Lab and the Memory Attentional Control and Aging Lab in the School of Psychology. His research interests primarily involve perception and action, particularly haptic and vision perception, but he is also interested in memory, attentional control and neuroscience.

Ean’s honors thesis investigates the effects of how depth and distance influence the perception of gap crossing within virtual reality. For this research, he was awarded an Eagle SPUR Grant from the Drapeau Center for Undergraduate Research and placed second in the human physiology category for the USM Undergraduate Symposium on Research and Creative Activity. He looks forward to presenting this research again soon at the 2026 International Conference on Perception and Action.

In his free time, Ean enjoys traveling, reading, listening to music, video games and spending time with friends and family. After graduation this spring, Ean plans to pursue graduate training in experimental psychology and aspires to become a cognitive psychology researcher and professor.

Congrats to Paris Labadie, Outstanding Senior for the School of Psychology! 🎉👏🦅

Paris is a psychology major from New Orleans, La. She is also minoring in criminal justice and child advocacy studies (CAST) at USM.

She serves as a psychology ambassador for the school and a research assistant for the Forensic and Correctional Team (FACT) and Child Routines and Behaviors Labs. Paris enjoys researching topics such as juvenile justice, forensic work and adolescent externalizing behaviors. She recently completed her Southern Miss Honors College thesis on externalizing behaviors in justice-involved youth in adolescent boot camps. Additionally, she conducts in-person SONA studies on college student aggression.

Paris is a member of Pi Beta Phi at Southern Miss, vice president of Psi Chi honor society, a student ambassador with Southern Miss Greek Seekers, and a member of Order of Omega leadership honor society.

After graduation this spring, she plans to enroll in the MSW program at Southern Miss to pursue forensic social work and child advocacy.

Congrats to Gagana Mohan Kumar, Outstanding Sophomore for the School of Psychology! 🎉👏🦅

Gagana is a psychology major and biology minor from Bengaluru, India.

In addition to competing as a Division I student-athlete on the Southern Miss Women’s Tennis Team, she also serves as a research assistant for the Vocational Psychology Research Team and the Childhood Neurodevelopmental Disorders Lab in the School of Psychology. Gagana is the sports coordinator for the Indian Student Association at USM as well.

Using the valuable research experience she has gained, Gagana presented a poster titled “Career Decision-Making Uncertainty in College Students a Foundation for Research in College Athletes” at the USM Undergraduate Symposium on Research and Creative Activity this spring. This summer, she is looking forward to working with neurodivergent children through an internship with Camp Akeela in Vermont.

Gagana aspires to pursue graduate studies in psychology and conduct research while working with student-athletes and neurodivergent populations.

Congrats to Dr. Donald Sacco, professor in Southern Miss Psychology + Experimental Psychology USM and recipient of the CEHS Distinguished Researcher Award! 🎉👏🦅

Gulf Park Psychology students may qualify for the Coastal Pathways Scholarship - see more in the links below.

Southern Miss Gulf Park offers the Coastal Pathways Scholarship, a $5,000 annual award for transfer students from MGCCC and PRCC in select majors.

Psychology is one of those eligible programs, preparing students for careers in a broad range of fields such as social services, business, education, or research. Whether graduates pursue advanced degrees or enter the workforce, they gain the knowledge and skills to be ready for life.

The Southern Miss School of Psychology is elated to welcome our new director: Dr. Melanie Leuty. Dr. Leuty graduated from the University of Minnesota with her PH.D. in counseling psychology, and has conducted countless hours of research regarding the fields of employment, work values, work environments, person-environment fit, and career development.

Having served as faculty at USM since 2010, and most recently as director of the Center for Faculty Development, Dr. Leuty enters this position with a combination of academic credibility, collaboration, and institutional knowledge that will be a boon to the School of Psychology.

Yesterday, The School of Psychology hosted our pre-commencement graduation celebration in The Gallery of Cook Library, where we welcomed back graduate students to the community. Light refreshments were provided as grads reconnected with classmates and faculty members, sharing updates about personal and professional milestones and accomplishments.

We are endlessly proud of the SoP graduates, who have synthesized all they've learned over the years, and will step out into the world with a scientist-practitioner mindset and serve their respective communities.