Middle Tennessee Psychological Association Conference

Grab some breakfast and visit with your colleagues before the sessions start.

Posters will be presented live on site.

COE Room 160

How do universities communicate their support for LGBTQ+ students, faculty, and staff—and how often is that support genuine? In this keynote, Dr. Ruthie Walker will share research from the BESTEST Lab examining LGBTQ+ friendliness at public universities across the U.S. Using a mix of social media analysis, policy reviews, and a faculty workplace survey, Dr. Walker and her students have investigated how institutions engage with LGBTQ+ communities and whether their public messaging aligns with real-world policies and protections. She will discuss the key findings from multiple studies, including gaps between performative allyship and meaningful action, trends in university social media engagement, and the challenges LGBTQ+ faculty and staff face in higher education. Dr. Walker will provide practical takeaways for educators, administrators, and advocates who want to move beyond surface-level inclusion efforts and create lasting, tangible support for LGBTQ+ individuals in higher education, while also discussing how researchers can translate their findings into accessible, real-world tools that inform and empower the communities they study.

Dr. Ruth Walker (she/her)

Dr. Ruth Walker is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where she directs the BESTEST Lab. Her research broadly examines social inequalities across the lifespan, with publications focused on sexual assault in young women, impact of bias toward transgender and gender diverse people, the intersection of ageism and sexism, as well as the assessment of innovative teaching practices in psychology. Dr. Walker’s current research agenda is shaped by her students’ interests, and she works to foster a collaborative environment where undergraduate and graduate researchers investigate pressing social issues. She is also the creator of the Careers in Psychology website, a comprehensive resource designed to support psychology majors in career exploration and professional development. In addition to her research and mentorship, Dr. Walker is a sought-after qualitative research consultant, advising on research design, data analysis, and applied methodologies for research institutes. She has also published multiple open educational resource (OER) textbooks to help make statistical analyses accessible to psychology students.

Each spoken paper will run for 12 minutes (including questions) and will break for three minutes to change speakers and allow attendees to switch rooms, if desired.

Spoken papers Room 1

COE Room 141

Spoken papers Room 2

COE Room 145

Spoken papers Room 3

COE Room 146

Spoken papers Room 4

COE Room 149

Posters will be presented live on site.

• The 2025 conference will be live. The live event will be on MTSU’s campus in the College of Education Building (COE).
• The submission deadline is April 18, 2025. All submissions received by the deadline will be accepted for presentation.
• Presentations on completed research, ongoing research, research proposals, or replications of classic studies are encouraged.
• The research should have been conducted by an undergraduate or graduate student. If a faculty member is a co-author, the student should be first author. The student researcher will be expected to make the presentation.
• Please register for the event. People attending live should be prepared to pay the appropriate cash registration fee.

(Register by April 18, 2025)

Oral Presentations

• Use the submission form and indicate that you will be making an oral presentation.
• There will be a limited number of slots available for oral presentations. If we cannot accommodate your presentation, we will offer you the chance to make it a poster presentation.
• Presenters will have 12 minutes to present, including time for questions.

Poster Presentations

• Use the submission form and indicate that you will be presenting a poster.
• Plan your presentation for a 2-minute drill and engage the audience in conversation if they want to ask questions. Please do not freeze the audience for a long talk; we want people to be able to visit multiple posters, so they need to be able to leave your poster after a few minutes.

(Submit by April 18, 2025)

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