By establishing student funds, psychology alumni are giving back in ways that are both personally meaningful and academically valuable.
By Lauren Pond
Marketing and Communications Associate
pond.71@osu.edu
As a summer policy intern in Washington, D.C., Rajeev Rai ’26 was asked to evaluate a perplexing issue: Why did many recipients of WIC nutritional assistance abandon their benefits after two years?
An economics and psychology double major at Ohio State, he quickly identified a cause his colleagues hadn’t considered: shame. Many WIC recipients had been “outed” while shopping for groceries, he learned, and stopped using the program afterward.
“I was able to use part of my psychology major there, and I loved it,” said Rai, who graduated this spring and is a recipient of the Department of Psychology’s Guzzo Endowed Scholarship.
It’s exactly the kind of interdisciplinary experience that the scholarship was designed to facilitate.
Established in 2017 by Department of Psychology alumni Rick and Nancy Guzzo ’74, the Guzzo Endowed Scholarship Fund supports students who are double majoring in psychology and another subject, with the goal of preparing them to apply their skills across professional fields. It’s also a prime example of how Ohio State graduates are giving back in ways that are both personally meaningful and academically valuable.
When the Guzzos started their fund, they wanted to ease the financial stress of attaining a psychology degree and help students graduate without burdensome loans. The costs of higher education have soared since they themselves were in college.
"It helped me focus on other things besides my work for money." - Rajeev Rai, Guzzo Endowed Scholarship recipient
But another big priority was interdisciplinary education—a strength of Ohio State, and particularly of the Department of Psychology, where instructors emphasize the field’s wide applicability to human thought, feeling and behavior.
It’s something the Guzzos experienced first-hand. After majoring in both psychology and sociology at Ohio State, Rick became an internationally recognized expert in organizational psychology with a strong interdisciplinary focus. Nancy, who majored in psychology and dental hygiene, regularly drew on her psychology background when interacting with patients as a dental hygienist. The couple now wants to help today’s undergraduates be similarly agile in their careers.
“Understanding human behavior is a key part of many, if not most, career paths,” said Duane Wegener, Chair of the Department of Psychology.
“Specific support for double majors including psychology is a great benefit to our students who want flexibility and breadth in their training.”
In addition to majoring in two fields, Guzzo Endowed Scholarship recipients must demonstrate financial need and academic excellence. So far, seven people have received the award, including Rai.
When he arrived at Ohio State, Rai decided to major in topics he'd enjoyed during high school in Malaysia: economics and psychology. At first, he saw these fields as distinct, he said. But he gradually realized how much they overlap.
“In economics, we’d be talking about Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. I’m like, wait a second, I know that from my psych class!” he said.
Rai received the Guzzo Scholarship in 2024, along with two scholarships from the Department of Economics. The award was a big help financially, allowing him to leave his job as a residence hall office assistant, which had required him to work shifts from 11 p.m. to 4 a.m.
“It helped me focus on other things besides my work for money,” he said.
It also allowed Rai to take more courses and earn dual Bachelor’s degrees in psychology and economics, rather than completing the double major alone. He has completed five public policy internships in the nation’s capital, where he now hopes to bring a psychological perspective to policymaking.
“In a lot of policies that I’ve researched and analyzed as part of my internships, you notice that, yes, there are economic aspects. But, then, you’re also making policies for people,” Rai explained.
“A decent amount of them failed to consider the psychology of people.”
Psychology was an obvious choice of major for Kaci Yano ’26, who has always enjoyed biology and grew curious in high school about how the human mind works, she said. Once in college, she quickly picked up a second major in neuroscience, which gave her new insight into the biological workings of the brain and enhanced her understanding of psychology itself.
The Guzzo Endowed Scholarship gave Yano the flexibility complete a summer position in the Buckeye Brain Aging Lab (B-BAL) and assist with research on physical fitness and brain health. She is particularly interested in neuroimaging, such as fMRI, which allows scientists to see which areas of the brain are activated by different activities and stimuli—a cornerstone of the lab’s work.
“Once I got the scholarship, I felt a lot more comfortable taking the time to work over the summer, knowing that I would have a bit of a buffer when it came to the school year,” Yano said.
She now plans to pursue a PhD and would like to go into neuropsychology, where she could study how different therapies affect the brain and find effective support for patients.
"Make it happen in a way that appeals to your own experiences and your own wishes. And meet a recipient if you can – they are terrific people." - Rick Guzzo
This flexibility to explore multiple passions while also doing research is an important part of the Guzzo Endowed Scholarship, explained Tammy Parker, Ohio State’s Senior Director of Development in the social and behavioral sciences.
“That combination builds intellectual curiosity, adaptability, and practical experience, qualities that make our graduates exceptionally versatile in their careers and lives," she said.
The award is one of at least 14 student scholarships that the Department of Psychology offers, many of these funded by alumni who hope to have a lasting impact on future generations of psychological scientists and practitioners.
“People understand economic needs are real for college education,” Rick said, when asked how he’d advise other department graduates who are interested in giving back.
“Make it happen in a way that appeals to your own experiences and your own wishes. And meet a recipient if you can – they are terrific people.”
If you are interested in giving to the Department of Psychology, please contact Tammy Parker at parker.465@osu.edu to discuss opportunities.