OC psychology alumni recently earned their doctorates and first jobs as professors

Hayley Fisher and Justin Bullard completed competitive graduate programs and have started successful careers as researchers and teachers.

March 20, 2021

In 2014, two prestigious students graduated from Oklahoma Christian University with their bachelor’s degree in psychology. Hayley Fisher was a part of the OC Honors Program and completed her Ph.D. in Behavioral Neuropsychology at Kansas State University last fall. Justin Bullard also earned a degree in psychology from OC and went on to earn his Ph.D. in psychology from Oklahoma State University. 

Fisher was recently awarded a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh, where she will be continuing her research with Susanne Ahmari. While there, she will study how a particular region of the thalamus is involved in coordinating neural activity between cortical and subcortical regions of the brain to promote behavioral flexibility.

Bullard recently moved to Worcester, Massachusetts, to start in a psychologist position with the Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics Unit at the University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center. Previously, he worked as a licensed psychologist with the Nebraska Department of Health Services in the Developmental Disabilities Division. 

While a psychology degree is often seen as a “broad field,” OC prepares students for several different distinguished roles in the field.  

OC Professor of Psychology Tina Winn is proud of, but not surprised by, the two graduates. As the division chair for Education and Behavioral and Social Sciences, Winn invited Bullard to come back to the university to share his experience with current OC students. 

“It is rewarding as a professor to witness the success of our graduates and hear from them about how well our program prepared them for their graduate work and their careers,” Winn said. 

OC anticipates and supports the future endeavors of these emerging scholars and practitioners of psychology.