Graduate student honored by CSU for academic achievement

Jared Chapman

One word that Jared Chapman might use to describe the early part of his life is unstable.

Following the break up of his parents, Chapman found himself hanging out with the wrong crowd, getting into trouble with the law and homeless at 16 years old. “Friends brought me food and sometimes let me come over to shower and clean up, but most nights I spent in a sleeping bag under an overpass,” he said.

Family members would step in and offer Chapman a place to stay as long as he did well in school. “Unfortunately what I wanted to do at that time was party,” he explained. “Although I did well at school, I spent my nights and weekends experimenting with things I should not have.” Once again he would find himself living on the streets.

He has come a long way since those days.

Chapman, a psychology graduate student, has been selected as CSUB's recipient for the 2008-09 William Randolph Hearst/CSU Trustees' Award for Outstanding Achievement.

Along with outstanding students selected from each of the 23 CSU campuses, he was presented the award at the September meeting of the CSU Board of Trustees. A $3,000 scholarship was awarded for “superior academic performance and exemplary personal accomplishments.”

Chapman's life changed for the better thanks to the influence of his grandfather. “Because my grandfather has always been my role model for how a man should be, I cleaned up and worked hard at school to impress him,” he said.

Chapman went on to earn his associate's degree at Bakersfield College and then transferred to CSUB and found his options were limitless.

He began social psychological research, developing the threat to core beliefs theory supported by funding from his McNair and CSU pre-doctoral scholarships. Last spring Chapman graduated magna cum laude with degrees in psychology and religious studies, receiving academic awards from both departments.

Currently, Chapman is working on completing his master's in psychology at CSUB and his future goals include becoming a social psychology professor researching conflict resolution in intergroup relations.