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| Welcome to Wesleyan Weekend |
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Valerie Knopik, Ph.D. ’94
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.jpg) A.B. Psychology and Sociology, Wesleyan College
M.A. and Ph.D., University of Colorado
Associate Professor, Brown University
While one can get a sense of Valerie Knopik’s academic and professional excellence from reading the list of accomplishments on her resume, it does not showcase the grace with which she accomplishes these efforts or how she upholds Wesleyan’s values in her personal and professional life. After graduating in 1994 with a double major in psychology and sociology, Valerie attended the University of Colorado, Boulder, earning her master’s and doctorate degrees in psychology, with a specialty in behavior genetics. Her talent and determination resulted in faculty members regarding her as one of the most accomplished students to have ever trained at the Institute for Behavior Genetics, and many years later, she is still considered “one of their brightest stars.”
Valerie further honed her scientific expertise at Washington University School of Medicine, obtaining a grant that allowed her to conduct research for five years. Her efforts have resulted in international recognition that is usually not seen in anyone less than a full professor. Her sterling reputation has taken her to Helsinki to teach the methodologies in which she is an expert and has fostered collaborations with researchers in Australia, England, and the Netherlands. Valerie has received numerous awards from national and international societies, most impressive being the Fuller and Scott Early Career Award from the Behavior Genetics Association, which is the highest honor possible for a junior faculty member in her academic field.
Not only does Valerie exemplify the Wesleyan value of individual excellence, she also adds her strengths to numerous teams of investigators and researchers. Her laughter, humor, and joyful enthusiasm have resulted in being sought out as a research collaborator and presenter at more than forty conferences and workshops. Valerie has been an author on an impressive twenty-three publications published in top behavior genetics journals. She spends a great deal of time teaching and mentoring, and lectures to undergraduates, graduate students, and psychology interns at Brown University. She serves on multiple committees and takes an active role in her community, recently serving as president of the executive board of directors at Eastside Early Learning Center at Butler Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island.
Valerie has accomplished these milestones at an astonishingly young age, and has done so while maintaining a balance between her professional and family life. She is scheduled to be promoted to associate professor after only five years at Brown University, instead of the average nine years expected within an Ivy League medical school. She and her husband have a daughter and a son, and Valerie prioritizes spending time with her children and taking leadership roles in their schools and after-school activities.
Years ago, during her senior year of high school, Valerie had quite a decision to make. She had already been accepted at Notre Dame, Loyola (New Orleans), and Florida State University. However, she received an invitation from Wesleyan to attend a weekend visitation and decided, on a whim, to go. "My dad and I went and stayed overnight," says Knopik, a native of Sarasota, Florida. "I loved it. I wanted to be independent but close enough to drive home. I also really liked Wesleyan’s class system. You are automatically a part of something."
Not only was Knopik immediately impressed with the academics at Wesleyan -- "I was very well prepared for graduate school" -- she was impressed with all the other activities at Wesleyan and the support and caring she received from faculty as well as fellow students. She spent four years playing on the Pioneer volleyball team, sang in the Washboard Band, served on the Council on Social Activities, was on the Student Senate her senior year and helped found the group, Dance Diversions. Knopik was also a member Phi Kappa Phi, Mortar Board and Psy Chi (the psychology honor society) and was homecoming queen her senior year.
"Wesleyan definitely helped me become more assertive," she said. "I don’t think I would have felt as secure or as eager to speak up and participate at graduate school if I had not had not attended Wesleyan." Knopik credits her Wesleyan professors, particularly Dr. Helen Hollis, associate professor of psychology, and Dr. Phil Taylor, associate professor of economics and director of graduate programs, for many of her academic successes.
"Dr. Hollis was my advisor and such a great role model for me. I found it very encouraging that she had a family and a successful career," Knopik said. "And he (Dr. Taylor) was like my surrogate father at Wesleyan. He even stood in for my dad when he couldn’t come for a father/daughter weekend. He and his family made me feel very much at home."
According to Knopik, one of her most memorable academic experiences was her senior seminar, "I know the subject may sound trite to some people, but my senior seminar was about mothers and the issues with motherhood," she says. "I found it very empowering. My mom passed away when I was 12, and as part of the seminar, each of us had to write a paper on our mother. It was a very challenging and moving experience for me." |
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