Meet Grace Drolet, 2025 graduate of the Department of Psychology and winner of the College of Behavioral, Social and Health Sciences’ (CBSHS) Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Award.
When Grace Drolet ‘25 arrived at Clemson University as a first-year student four years ago, she was not exactly sure what she wanted to do professionally, but she knew she wanted to help people.
A first-generation college student from Rock Hill, South Carolina, Drolet had only applied to two universities before deciding to pursue a degree in criminal justice at Clemson University.
However, an introductory psychology course during her first year changed her long-term plans.
“I just felt so called to psychology,” Drolet said. “I thought, this is my place. This is where I belong. This is what I want to do.”
Though Drolet knew she wanted to pursue psychology, the major was full at the time, so she declared a psychology minor and took every course she could until space opened in the degree program.
During her sophomore year, Drolet said she became interested in undergraduate research opportunities while she was enrolled in Social Psychology, a course taught by Professor of Psychology Robin Kowalski – so much so that she asked to audit Kowalski’s Creative Inquiry (CI) class.
Creative Inquiry courses offer students a unique combination of undergraduate research, experiential learning and interdisciplinary collaborations, and she began auditing Kowalski’s Creative Inquiry course to learn more about the research process.
Drolet immersed herself in the course – and she ended her sophomore year as an author on a peer-reviewed journal publication, “Responses to Transgressions: Grudges or Forgiveness?”
“Dr. Kowalski’s Creative Inquiry class was my very first exposure to the academic research process,” Drolet said. “It is one thing to read literature and write papers about what you have learned, but it is another thing to be the one writing the literature. When our paper was published, it was a big deal for me. I said, ‘Look! I am on Google Scholar!’”
Drolet continued to conduct research alongside Kowalski for the next two years. She and her research team published a second research paper titled “Psychological Dread and Extreme Persistent Fear.” Throughout her time on Kowalski’s team, she studied workplace cliques and relationships, retail complaints, fictitious online victimization and the relationship between suicide and religion.
As an undergraduate student, she presented at ten conferences and was recognized by the College of Behavioral, Social and Health Sciences and the Department of Psychology for her academic excellence and outstanding undergraduate research. She also received accolades outside of the University for her second-place presentation at the SAEOPP McNair/SSS Scholars Research Conference. She was part of the Clemson University Honors College, where she served as a mentor and wellness ambassador. Additionally, she worked as a house manager for the Brooks Center for Performing Arts, an on-campus housing resident assistant and a mentor through the FIRST Generation Success Program.
According to Kowalski, a list of Drolet’s accomplishments only scratches the surface of her contributions to Clemson and the advancement of undergraduate research.
“Grace is an incredible person and an excellent role model for all students. She is going to be a true difference maker, and I am honored to have been a part of her undergraduate journey,” said Kowalski.
Drolet said she plans to continue her academic endeavors and can see herself pursuing clinical psychology in the future, but ultimately her goal is a simple one – one that aligns with the CBSHS mission to build people and communities.
“My goal for the future is to be of service to people, whether I am in a clinical setting or doing social work or contributing to research, I want to make a positive difference in people’s lives,” she said.
In addition to the knowledge and skills she gained as a psychology student and undergraduate researcher, Drolet said she is leaving the University as a much more outgoing, passionate person.
If she could pass along one piece of advice to undergraduate Clemson students, it would be to enroll in a Creative Inquiry course to discover new passions.
“I learned so much in my classes, but when I was actually doing research in Creative Inquiry, I grew more interested in my field of study,” she said. “Because of my CI experiences, I know this is where I belong.”
The Department of Psychology is a part of the College of Behavioral, Social and Health Sciences. Established in July 2016, CBSHS is a 21st-century, land-grant college that combines work in nine disciplines – communication; nursing; parks, recreation and tourism management; political science; psychology; public health sciences; sociology, anthropology and criminal justice – to further its mission of “building people and communities” in South Carolina and beyond.
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