Senior Portfolios
The Oberlin Psychology major culminates in a Senior Portfolio. This course is taken in students’ last year in residence. It is designed to help reflect on where they’ve been, where they want to go, take stock, and prepare for life afterwards.
Students works closely with faculty to catalog their skills and develop a resume or vita, a LinkedIn profile, and a web-based portfolio highlighting their skills and experiences. Workshops are offered by Career Services on effective networking, interviewing, and job search strategies. All students are offered the opportunity to have a professional portrait taken.
This is a sampling of portfolio from the classes of 2020, 2022, 2024, and 2025.
Zach Arfa
“Throughout my time at Oberlin I’ve studied Psychology and Dance. while working as the Artistic Director for the Hilltown Youth Performing Arts Programs, an organization that specializes in working with teens overcoming trauma, addiction and other mental and behavioral health challenges. I worked as the Housing Coordinator for the cooperatives on campus, taught many dance classes in Contact Improvisation including at a Mid West dance festival, studied and practiced a collaborative, story-based songwriting method called Documentary Songwriting, started and led a movement program for elementary school aged boys in the town of Oberlin, and worked as a choir assistant in a men’s prison. Community building has been the core of each of these experiences.”
Khadijah Halliday
“I don’t want to just be the one being inspired. I also want to be the one doing the inspiring.”
“There are many nuances that worsen the stigma attached to mental health in communities such as my home basin—the Caribbean. However, there is still a pitiful lack of region-specific research with apt cultural considerations. Overlaying first-world statistics onto specific issues inherent to the Caribbean is often inappropriate when so many sociocultural contradictions exist. Therefore, I aspire to fill some of these research deficits, particularly as it relates to trauma induced disorders (e.g. C-PTSD) and developmental disabilities (e.g. autism) more novelly defined by the neurodiversity movement as neurodivergences. I am fervidly devoted to the investigation of possibilities and alternative methods for psychological care within underrepresented and minoritized populations such as said neurodivergent community. “
Skye Slade
“Much of my time in research has been focused on Asian-American psychology and the psychology of Multiracial experiences, as well as experience working in an EEG lab studying facial perception and recognition. The overlap between my psychological and political backgrounds offers me a unique perspective on many social issues, which I am incredibly grateful for.“
A sampling of Spring 2025 graduates.
Charlotte Barbarinsa
“Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to work on a number of incredible projects that have allowed me to grow and establish myself within this competitive industry. I hope you’ll enjoy viewing my projects as much as I enjoyed working on them. Go ahead and explore, and don’t hesitate to reach out if you’d like to learn more.“
Max Kramer
“I use my backgrounds in data science, machine learning, and audio engineering to help protect people against AI-generated misinformation. “
Fulbright Award Winner Hillel Hinton-Williams ’23
Psychology major Hillel Hinton-Williams
Psychology major Hillel Hinton-Williams is a Teacher at the Windward School in Manhattan. I am happy to continue working as an educator after completing the Fulbright teaching program in Germany. I graduated Oberlin college in early 2023 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology. I had a wonderful time at Oberlin joining and being a member of the leadership team at several student organizations, including The Cat in The Cream, The Living Machine, and The Oberlin Pottery Coop.
Watson & Fulbright Award Winner Molly Gleydura ’22
Psychology major Molly Gleydura won both the prestigious Fulbright and Watson Awards.
She has chosen to accept the Watson award and will pursue independent research on parent bereavement in New Zealand, Senegal, El Salvador, and Ireland.
Fulbright Award Winner Ruth Beiber-Stanley ’21
Ruth Bieber-Stanley ’21 has German ancestors and relatives on both sides of her family, but never learned to speak German as a child. Today, not only does she know the language, but uses it to have an even deeper connection with her heritage.
“Learning German was a way to connect with a culture that intrigued me,” says Bieber-Stanley, a resident of Albuquerque, New Mexico. “I think learning a language is a way to access a culture and that’s what leads to cultural understanding.”
Although Bieber-Stanley was also able to take advantage of a study abroad experience in Germany, her time there was cut short due to the pandemic. She hopes her recent Fulbright Fellowship will grant her a second chance.
Read more . . . .
Goldwater Scholarship Winner Olivia Goldstein ’20
Olivia Goldstein is one of Oberlin’s three recipients of the Goldwater Scholarship.
The Goldwater is a competitive award program that supports students in the natural sciences, engineering, and mathematics.
Goldstein is a third-year psychology major with a concentration in statistical modeling. She is among the 396 college students across the United States—and one of only 11 pursuing psychology—who will receive up to $7,500 for tuition and expenses in the 2020-2021 academic year.
She . . .is a research assistant for Visiting Assistant Professor Kenneth Allen in the Cognitive, Affect, Self-Regulation, and Health (CASH) laboratory in the psychology department.
“We are interested in the relationship between mental illness and emotional response inhibition, which is essentially one’s ability to control their negative emotions . . . . My primary research focus is on nonsuicidal self-injury, which is the deliberate infliction of bodily harm (most commonly cutting) without any intent to die. Nonsuicidal self-injury is one of the best predictors of future suicide, which is the second-leading cause of death in American adolescents and costs the United States approximately $69 billion per year. I hope that my research helps people, specifically children and teenagers, alleviate pain and experience better well-being and more happiness in their lives.
Goldstein recently attended the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies in Atlanta, Georgia, to present the CASH laboratory study that examined how perceived criticism affects people’s decision-making abilities.
Read more about Olivia’s work here.
Brian Tom ’20 Wins AICUO Grand Award For Visual Arts
Studio art and psychology double major Brian Tom ’20 won the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Ohio (AICUO) Grand Award for Excellence in the Visual Arts for his 10-piece sculpture submission, The Rest In Pieces, which examines human responses to death through irony and humor.
The AICUO Excellence in Visual Arts award is an annual competition which accepts studio art portfolio submissions from these private colleges and universities across Ohio. After being judged in a blind jury pool made up of various professors, curators, and artists, the six finalists are narrowed down and a grand award winner is chosen. In the 12-year history of the AICUO awards program, an Oberlin College studio art major has won the grand prize seven times, and been represented among the finalists every year.
Oberlin Psychology 