Corey 
Psychology Major, Professional Career Track
First-year graduate student
McNair Research Intern
(San Antonio, Texas)
Have you ever wondered why some people are more sensitive to insults than others? Or if media can really affect the self-esteem of young girls?
Grace Lozano (’11) has gotten up close and personal with the human psyche as she sought the answers to these and other questions during her quest for a psychology degree from ACU.
Grace finished her undergraduate work in three years with ACU’s Professional Career Track program and is now in her first year working on a master’s degree in clinical psychology.
Throughout this time, she has partnered with Drs. Richard Beck, John Casada and Jennifer Shewmaker on research projects and has presented her research alongside them at conferences.
“It’s been invaluable to me to be a part of research as an undergraduate,” she says. “It has prepared me to excel in my graduate programs, and it has opened me up to so many learning experiences.”
Aside from research experience, ACU benefited Grace in more than just a few ways, she says.
“I was in a search to be intellectually and spiritually challenged, shaped and edified, and ACU offered that for me,” Grace says.
She has also had the opportunity to work as a graduate assistant for the psychology department and as an intern at Abilene’s Acadia Psychiatric Hospital.
Upon graduating in December, Grace hopes to enter a Ph.D. program in counseling psychology. She believes her time and work at ACU will be to her advantage as she continues her education.
“We have an exceptional psychology department at ACU,” Grace says. “Each professor brings something unique to the table. I have grown significantly in my conversations, classes and research opportunities in large because of my wonderful professors.”