Tarria Brown
Psychology 2023
“The selling point, as silly as it sounds, was just the aura of the campus. I remember touring twice, and as I stood at the hill right before heading towards UHall, I took a picture and it just felt so serene. I felt comfortable and calm. This was not a feeling I got from other colleges I toured. That’s when I knew immediately, I wanted to attend Gwynedd Mercy University,” said Tarria.
Involvement on Campus
On campus, Tarria was one of the most involved students. Within Student Activities Committee (SAC), Tarria served as President for two years and Treasurer for one year. She also served as Treasurer and Student Government Association (SGA) Representative for the American Association of University Women (AAUW). Starting her sophomore year, Tarria served as an Orientation Leader for two years and an Orientation Assistant for one year. For three years, Tarria was a Mercy Mover and helped first-year students during move-in day. Lastly, Tarria served as the Community Service Representative for the Residence Hall Association (RHA).
Because of Tarria’s excellent leadership abilities, she was awarded the Outstanding Student Leadership Award at the 2023 Honors Convocation ceremony.
My favorite part of GMercyU was getting involved in clubs and organizations, and attending the various events on campus. Also, being supported by various faculty, for instance Alexandra Jabara Johnston (club advisor), Dr. Rebecca Gullan (academic advisor), and Nykeisha Robinson (public safety officer), and a few others, made me feel like I could go to them and receive the support I needed to be successful.
In addition to the many clubs and organizations that Tarria was a member of, she was also engaged in service activities on and off campus. As the Community Service Representative for RHA, Tarria organized and managed a blanket making community service activity for the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. She also arranged and sent letters to the military and planned and facilitated COVID Care Bags for a women’s domestic violence shelter.
“My responsibility as the Community Service Representative was to create impactful community service opportunities that included the residents living on Gwynedd Mercy University’s campus,” Tarria said.
Experience in Psychology
“My experience has been very welcoming, supportive, and fun. I did not have a professor that did not provide me with the knowledge I needed as a student,” said Tarria.
Tarria pursued Psychology after switching majors her sophomore year. The switch allowed her to explore the sides of psychology that she always wanted to learn more about.
“Being a psychology major allowed me to have the time to be a part of more clubs and even join a sport at a point. I also believe being a psychology major gave me the social and academic balance that I genuinely needed,” shared Tarria.
Within the Psychology program, Tarria had many professors and courses she enjoyed. In particular, she enjoyed Child Psychology with Dr. John Gunn, Women & Faces of Imprisonment with Dr. Mary Reilly, Sports Psychology with Professor Shannon Algeo, Abnormal Psychology with Professor Henkel, and Ethical Issues Behavioral Social Sciences with Dr. Rebecca Gullan.
Tarria also had professors and courses outside of Psychology that she enjoyed. Particularly, she shared The Short Story with Professor Fida, Human Trafficking Seminar with Dr. Lorraine Phillips, Organic Chemistry with Dr. Maria Winters, Encountering Ethics with Catherine Conroy-dePaulo, and World History I with Professor Michael Clinton.
In addition to her Psychology degree, Tarria also chose Chemistry as her minor. She chose Chemistry because it was originally required of her when she entered GMercyU as a Biology major. Because of the hard work she had already put into the minor, Tarria decided it was best to keep moving forward.
Internship Experience
During her time at GMercyU, Tarria completed an internship with Dr. Gullan in which they partnered to design and carry out an advisory board to support current students and student leaders and recruit new students. Their partnership led to the creation of an annual board meeting. She assisted Dr. Gullan by designing event protocol, training student leaders, facilitating small group discussions, and collaborating with program faculty.
“My biggest takeaway from this entire experience is that putting in the effort to do things like this in programs truly benefits the students. Hearing how much the students have in common and how grateful they were to be able to express themselves in a safe place and feel like they are part of the psychology community, made an impact on me that I will never forget,” shared Tarria. “I genuinely appreciated the students and faculty that made this possible. As the process is came to an end, I realized how proud and thankful I was to know the people I knew to be able to create experiences like these for student success.”
Psychology Program Advisory Board
During the internship with Dr. Gullan, Tarria helped to create the Psychology Program Advisory Board. To start off the process of creating the Board, Tarria and Dr. Gullan collaborated and bounced ideas off one another to determine what they hoped to accomplish for the Psychology program.
So many hours, wonderful conversations, and effort went into creating this event for students.
They planned every detail of the event, including the name, types of food served, materials and swag to be given away, personalizing emails, and creating an itinerary.
Professor Stephanie Fratantaro also played a large role in helping to get the event running, as well as Alyssa Yiaski and Gianna Harvest.
“There are so many good things to say about the preparation of this event, how it went, who was a part of the event and the process of following up with the students after the event. Our main purpose of creating the board was to make psychology students feel like they are a part of the psychology community,” said Tarria. “We wanted them to feel supported, know that their voices are important and should be heard, and make this a beneficial experience.”
The event was designed for students to freely voice their opinions and use it as an addition to their resumes. Tarria even created a document filled with all necessary information to use on their resumes, cover letters, and in interviews.
Our main priority with the route we took was to really remind the students that they do have support in the Psychology program and doing events like these can only strengthen the psychology community and help to build strong and meaningful connections.
Why GMercyU?
“I would recommend GMercyU to a prospective student because there will always be someone who can be your support system and give you all the tools you need to be successful, especially in the Psychology major,” Tarria said.
Post-Graduation
After graduating in May 2023, Tarria interned at various physical therapy, occupational therapy, and athletic training settings/offices before applying to graduate school to obtain her doctoral degree in Occupational Therapy.
Her dream is to work with a sports team in the NBA, MLB, or NHL.