About

Cassidy Miles, from Marshville, North Carolina, graduated in May of 2016 with a degree in psychology. She is most proud of the research she conducted as an undergraduate and considers it a major accomplishment. Being able to manage her extra curricular activities, student honors council duties, educational obligations, and work is something that she is very proud of. Having the community feeling that comes along with being in the Honors College was very rewarding for Cassidy. Having the opportunity to take classes with other honors students, and having faculty members involved in the community positively contributed to her college experience.

For Cassidy’s senior project she focused on the effect that social media has on body image, especially among African-American/Black and White women. Following an experimental design, she created four mock Facebook profiles of African-American/Black and White women of different body sizes. UNCP female students viewed the profiles and responded to questionnaires about their perceptions of the Facebook profile, their own social media use, body esteem, contingencies of self-worth, and demographic information.

After graduation Cassidy started graduate school at Appalachian State University to further her education in clinical psychology. She advises honors students to get involved in something that will be beneficial in the future, outside of classroom studies. Cassidy’s greatest memory at UNCP was an honors college event where they all went canoeing on the Lumber River. She enjoyed being able to spend time with other honors students while learning more about the local area.

Senior Project

Thesis: Does Ethnicity Matter?: Facebook’s Effect on Body Esteem

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Shilpa Regan