ePortfolio

1. Undergraduate Studies
ePortfolio
Lauren Hunnicutt
BA Psychology, 2011
1

2. Personal Statement
I consider myself a career student, in life and academia. I have been attending college for twelve years,
taking one or two classes per semester at night and on extended lunch breaks, all while working in
multifamily property management. My interests going into my first year at university have changed
over the twelve years, leading me to pursue programs concentrated in Real Estate, Interior Design,
and finally I/O Psychology. After completing my Associates Degree in 2006, I took a break from my
studies to concentrate on an advanced management position, becoming debt free in the interim. In
the winter of 2009 at the worst possible economic time, I made the very difficult decision to resign
from my job, my security, and return to school full-time to complete my degree and start my own
business staging model apartment homes. I did miss the learning and focus on something greater
than the small bubble that surrounded my industry of employment, but more than that, I had an
obligation to myself to achieve these very personal goals. With little savings and my financial
welfare hinging on the good graces of Sallie Mae, I prepared myself to jump off of my very stable
cliff, hoping that my parachute would lead me safely to the ground below. With a crowd of
supporters at the bottom encouraging me, I knew I would be safe, but it was going to take a lot of
guts.
Fast-forward to present, and I am three days away from completing my degree in I/O Psychology, have
an active website for my design business with a few design projects under my belt, and have
accepted an entry-level HR/Office Manager’s position at Earthworks, Inc., a landscaping company
I have used throughout my years in property management. My parachute is open and I am drifting
towards the ground now in sight.
After completing my degree, as an extension of my education I look forward to completing some of the
certification programs offered by the Society for Human Resource Management or SHRMS, such
as SHRM Essentials of HR Management for those just starting out in the field. Other programs
offered require varying degrees of experience in the field, upwards of two years, so with time I will
use these to my advantage with the overall objective of becoming an executive.

3. Resume
Professional Highlights
Positive team leader, quick to master new roles, diplomatic in communicating and diffusing difficult situations, well versed in Macintosh and PC
platforms, excels in administrative work and project management.
Education
Argosy University, AZ, Bachelors of Arts in Psychology 2010 – 2011
Northlake College, TX, Associates in Liberal Arts 2003 – 2006
Professional Experience
Sole Proprietor January 2010 –
Present
Rooms – Interior Stylist
Coordinates and budgets design schemes for model apartment homes.
Selects paint, furnishings, artwork, and accessories for assembly, installation, and arrangement.
Centerstone Management Corporation April 1998 – December 2009
Bent Oaks Apartments – Property Manager
Managed a 200-unit apartment community in North Dallas with strong focus on budget compliance and maintaining high occupancy rates through
resident retention, quality control, efficient production, and customer service.
Directed a team of six in daily operations, leasing, administration, and maintenance.
Coordinated and supervised vendor repairs.
Spearheaded exterior and interior enhancement projects.
Compiled daily, weekly, monthly reports, and end of month P & L data.
Achieved the highest performance percentages in the company on monthly corporate audits involving areas of safety, administrative, utility
conservation, landscaping, structure, and make-readies.
Centre Oaks Apartments – Assistant Property Manager
Maintained occupancy goals of a 320-unit apartment community in Ft. Worth.
Managed rental income, delinquencies, evictions, and collections.
Reconciled resident accounts and monthly income books for property.
Implemented targeted marketing programs including print and digital media.
Established the standard for monthly-generated newsletters.
Designed and furnished the Bent Oaks leasing office interior, clubhouse, and model apartments throughout the company.
Received Satis-Facts Award for Resident Relationship Management Services.
Centre Oaks Apartments – Leasing Consultant
Successfully met and maintained weekly leasing goals.

4. Reflection
As I rifled through over seventy-five assignments spanning two years I am so proud
of my progress. I have certainly come a long way in terms of finding my
academic voice. Going through my course progressions, I started to recognize
an increase in my attention to detail and subject matter. I was quick to critique
my earlier works, and feeling at times, a little self-conscious. I realize this is all a
part of the learning process. My APA formatting has come light years from its
meager beginnings. I remember cracking the code to the running head
somewhere in the middle of Solutions Focused Leadership which was not that
long ago. I recall also being very scared and confused when first asked to use
the online library to find peer reviewed articles. Looking back, it was the most
wonderful and accommodating resource I have ever encountered at an
educational institution. With every course I have improved in my writing,
comprehension, formatting, and research, and although there is always room for
improvement, especially for me in the areas of critical thinking and analysis, and
I think my written communication is stellar. I am extremely thankful for the
guidance and personal attention that my professors have afforded me. I believe
my academic growth and success is also due to the psychology curriculum and
the learning strategies implemented in the course structures. Never in my
collegiate career have I worked so hard and learned so much.

5. Table of Contents
Cognitive Abilities: Critical Thinking and
Information Literacy
Research Skills
Communication Skills: Oral and Written
Ethics and Diversity Awareness
Foundations of Psychology
Applied Psychology
Interpersonal Effectiveness
**These complete works can be found on my Linkedin profile page
and are labeled according to this Table Of Contents. The following
slide has a sample of the work exhibiting critical thinking.**

6. Critical Thinking
Identifying the dependent and independent variables is a necessary part of the research process, but these may not the only variables that
exist in this study. Extraneous variables must also be considered. These are variables other than the independent variable that could
possibly have an effect on the dependent variable. Such extraneous variables in this study might be the individual level of care,
motivation, and/or compensation. Similarly, health and/or tenure could also be contributing factors. While there is no absolute method to
maintaining control over all possible extraneous variables outside of conducting the experiment in a highly controlled laboratory setting,
there are ways to effectively control many of them. Random assignment is one such technique. In a random assignment, study
participants are randomly selected and randomly assigned to either the treatment group or control group, the treatment group being the
only group that will receive treatment or that will be exposed to the changes in the independent variable (Riggio, 2008). Because of its
nature, random assignment should establish a sample population representative of the total population wherein individual differences,
possible extraneous variables, would be equally distributed amongst the two groups (Riggio, 2008).
After the research design has been selected, the variables have been identified, and there is a plan in place to control the extraneous
variables, the researcher must outline the data collection techniques he or she will employ. When collecting data for this study, the
researcher might consider starting with a self-reporting technique in the form of a survey administered to the employees in an effort to
get a personal account of their level of satisfaction at work. The researcher can then compare this information with data from the
company’s attendance reports (Riggio, 2008) to see if a correlation exists.
Since the research design uses the correlational method, the use of varying observational techniques will be the primary source of data
collected by the researcher. Obtrusive observation is one technique wherein the observer’s presence is visible to everyone involved. The
downfall in using this technique is that people who are being observed tend to alter their behavior, whether consciously or unconsciously
(Riggio, 2008) resulting in inaccuracies. Unobtrusive observation may eliminate this problem, as the participants will be unaware that
their behavior is being scrutinized. This, however, also has a downside in terms of ethics and privacy (Riggio, 2008). Ethical missteps
can have devastating personal and professional repercussions therefore it might benefit the researcher to revise his or her methods to
avoid these consequences, rather than take a risk for the use of a single technique. It may be possible to perform some kind of
concealed observation and still maintain ethical practices by obtaining informed consent from the employees prior to conducting
unobtrusive observation at an undisclosed time. In any event, because observation is a key element in this study, the researcher must
weigh the advantages and disadvantages of the varying forms of observational techniques and determine what measures he or she
must take moving forward.
After the research has been conducted and data collected, it will be necessary to analyze the data. Statistical analysis in this study
should be used to find the correlation coefficient, which will determine whether or not the results are of statistical significance (Aron, et
al., 2009). For example, should the researcher get a correlation value of r = -.70 he or she should conclude that the correlation is
significant because this value is “less than the customary alpha level of .05” (Argosy, 2011, Psychological Statistics M7:A2 Tutorial, p.8),
meaning there is less than five percent probability that the occurrence happened by chance (Riggio, 2008). In this case the null
hypothesis that there would be no correlation is rejected in favor of support of the research hypothesis, that there is a correlation
between high employee satisfaction and low absenteeism.

7. My Future in Learning
Learning is a lifelong process, and mine does not stop here. As I mentioned at the
beginning, I am a student in academia and in life. In addition to my academic
growth, I have also experienced real personal and professional growth. I have
taken away so much from my interaction with my peers and professors in the
collaborative environment at Argosy. I have learned to examine my own
capabilities, behavior, and perspectives, allowing for improvement, change, and
reflection. How I use this experience to manage my strengths and weaknesses
in the future and regard new endeavors will determine my success in
maximizing opportunities and overcoming obstacles. Embracing change, having
a thirst for knowledge, and challenging myself will put me on the road to my
continued learning and development.

8. Contact Me
Thank you for viewing my ePortfolio.
For further information, please contact me
at the e-mail address below.
laurenahunnicutt@gmail.com