Tag: LEAP

Clinical Psychology Program Offers Unique Courtroom Simulation

Sam Houston State University professionals in the fields of Law and Forensic Psychology joined together to present an experiential learning experience for Clinical Psychology Ph.D. students enrolled in the Forensic Assessment course taught by Dr. Mary Alice Conroy, Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Director of Clinical Training. In this unique collaboration, Ph.D. students practiced presenting their professional opinions as expert witnesses in a simulated hearing to determine the competency of a criminal defendant to stand trial. Dr. Gene Roberts, Associate Dean of Students and Director of the Student Legal and Mediation Services Center, cross-examined the student expert witnesses.

At the first simulated hearing, Hannah Benemann testified as the forensic expert, while fellow Ph.D. student Hadley McCartin conducted the direct examination. Ms. Benemann began her testimony by explaining the legal standard to determine competency to stand trial. She provided details from her expert report to explain her findings regarding the defendant’s competency. During his cross-examination, Dr. Roberts asked intense questions of the expert in order to provide the Trier of Fact, the Judge, with the most accurate information to make a determination of competency to stand trial.

The process continued with the second simulated hearing in which Alison Concannon was the expert witness and Inneke Vargas handled the direct exam. At the last hearing, the expert witness was Kennedy Anderson, and Sarah Hernandez asked the questions on direct exam. The other three students in the Forensics Psychology course, Brianna Davis, Kayla Spenard, and Aislinn Tansey, will participate in a future simulated hearing.

Dr. Roberts has assisted in this learning experience for the past ten years. At these simulated hearings, Dr. Roberts changes his cross-examination approach for each student so that the entire class is exposed to a gamut of questioning strategies. By both showcasing different techniques to cross-examine an expert witness and providing incisive feedback and advice to each of the Forensic Psychology Ph.D. students, Dr. Roberts hopes to provide the students an idea of what they will experience as an expert witness in forensic psychology.

Many thanks to Dr. Gene Roberts and Dr. Conroy for allowing LEAP students to observe this unique and innovative academic exercise!

Pre-Law Elections: Charting the Spring

McKenna Nonnenmann

May I be the first to welcome all new and old Pre-Law society members back from winter break!?


We welcomed three guests, each with varying degrees of familiarity. Victoria McClendon recently graduated from law school at Duquesne, and she just passed the bar this summer! She, interestingly, is a former Pre-Law Society President and, of course, a Sam Houston State University alum.

We were also introduced to Dr. Gene Roberts, who graduated with a law degree from SMU. He works here as the Director of Student Legal and Mediation Services and as Associate Dean.

He even has an EdD and a JD! We also heard from Ms. Jean Loveall, a mainstay as a pre-law advisor here at SHSU and the LEAP Center.

Together, they did a great job of explain what to expect from law school, attorney life, and our future years here at Sam. 

As it is a new semester, we also needed to fill some officer positions. Jasmine Crooks was re-elected as the Society’s secretary, as well as McKenna Nonnemann (that’s me!) remaining as the historian. With the president position open we had three society members run for the position: Jacelin Daniels, Jessica Hernandez, and Jade Miller.

We also had two members challenge each other for the Vice President of Membership: Christion Chancellor, and Jesus Ayala.

Each member brought wonderful ideas and gave heartfelt speeches, with Jade Miller and Jesus Ayala being awarded the officer positions!

We’d like to thank all Pre-Law members for joining us at this meeting. As well as all members who ran for officer positions along with the officers themselves. We hope to see you next meeting, on March 22!

Heading North, To Kansas

By Morgan Robertson

Late afternoon on Friday, we loaded the car and embarked on our journey to the Midwest! Our destination for the first half of our week is Wichita, Kansas, for the 76th Annual Meeting of the Midwestern Legislative Conference. Leaving late afternoon, though, we only made a few hours on the road before our first stop.

Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth

On the museum grounds, we were introduced to a new (to us) artist, Richard Serra, known for his massive bronze sculptures. His abstract works develop a “patina” over time, meaning that the metal changes color. Since its creation in 2002, we could clearly see how the coloring of Vortex has changed over time.

We snapped a few shots and made our way to another nearby outside piece, Hina, by another new (to most of us) artist, Deborah Butterfield. Butterfield also works in bronze, but her horses look like they’re made of wood!

Chatting about the different techniques, we made our way inside to meander through the modern pieces, on the lookout for more new and inspiring artists and works.

The minimal and modern building blended perfectly with the landscape and the works inside. The interior layout is designed to display prominent exhibits, with soaring ceilings and a lot of glass, and it is an appropriate motif for minimalist works such as those by Donald Judd.

The east and north sides overlook a reflecting pool, across which stands a gleaming Roxy Paine with interweaving branches entitled Conjoined.

Yvette quickly identified the distinct squares and colors of Josef Albers and Jessica spotted her favorite part of the museum, a collection of Andy Warhol flowers, and we were pleased to see that we would be rewarded with other Warhol works as well.


True to the nature of modern art, the pieces were not limited to paint and canvas. Steel and fiberglass adorned the center of one gallery, while interesting messages displayed on LED signs followed a vertical and uniform pattern in another. Of particular interest were Nancy Graves’ Inside-Outside and Jenny Holzer’s Kind of Blue, which we spent a lot of time on, pondering and (trying to) photograph.

Ashlyn best liked a rather unique photograph that featured a simple middle-class home balanced upon a pair of legs, Laurie Simmons’ Walking House. She was drawn to the piece for how it “stood out” and could be interpreted on multiple levels.

We made our way (rather quickly because of the temperature) through the sculpture garden which, in addition to the Paine, featured a KAWS…

…and Henry Moore. Morgan favored, in opposition to her usual taste in sculptures, Moore’s Two Piece Reclining Figure No. 2.

Professor Yawn’s favorite piece was one by Martin Puryear, titled “Ladder for Booker Washington.” While we didn’t understand the reference, Yawn discussed it and offered several interpretations for this intriguing piece.

The more dynamic pieces allowed us to practice creating interesting and unusual photographic compositions and ultimately resulting in some nice shots.

The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth was a good start to what soon will be a week worth of art, history and politics!

La Cena at Salsa Limón

With Oklahoma City in our sights, we chose somewhere quick (that turned out to be just right!) for dinner—Salsa Limón. We made our selections, while attempting to create a variety of options (which in my opinion, is becoming increasingly more difficult since our tastes sometimes converge). Jessica and Morgan chose similarly (boring burritos!) with pastor and chorizo, respectively, Ashlyn had a chicken molco bowl (“Just what I was expecting!”), and Yvette, Professor Yawn and Stephanie had an assortment of tacos, from barbacoa, to mushroom & cheese, to pastor, to black bean & avocado.

It was a good and light meal, energizing us for the final leg of our day’s travels.