Hansen awarded research award at Carroll

Press release

Carroll College health sciences major Mackenzie Hansen, a 2015 graduate of North Star High School in Rudyard, this fall received the first-ever Health Sciences Undergraduate Research Award. 

The award, funded by several donors, will be awarded annually to students completing innovative research. It is a competitive award program designed to prepare students for inquiry-based professions. The award is open to all students in the Health and Natural Science programs who exemplify the quality, character and academic promise of a student enrolled at Carroll College in Helena.

Each award is intended to support one semester of faculty-mentored research for each recipient as an augmentation of a fall or spring semester course. Students and their faculty mentors identify a research project, clarify its scope and anticipated outcomes, and plan a public presentation of the student's research findings.

Hansen is working with Professor Katie Wagner to conduct her research, which focuses on analyzing the relationship between canine-assisted therapy and stress among college students. Hansen completed a systematic review on this topic and her results indicated decreases in stress that could improve academic performance and overall well-being. She is now researching ways that a canine therapy program could be implemented on Carroll's campus to benefit future students. She will present her work at the Student Undergraduate Research Festival at Carroll April 25. 

Hansen's career aspiration is to become a physician assistant and she said she hopes to use canine-assisted therapy to enhance her patients' experience.

"We are so proud of Mackenzie and her hard work," said Professor Kelly Parsley, Health Sciences Department chair. "Students like Mackenzie illustrate the amazing caliber of students we have at Carroll."