Coastal Carolina University's Terry F. Pettijohn II, associate professor of psychology, has been named the 2014 Horry Telephone Cooperative Distinguished Teacher-Scholar Lecturer. He will be honored at a ceremony at 7 p.m. on Monday, March 31, in the James J. Johnson Auditorium. Pettijohn is the 18th recipient of the award presented annually by HTC.

At the ceremony, Pettijohn will present research on his "Environmental Security" hypothesis at 7:30 p.m. The proposed project looks at how social and economic conditions influence our social preferences. Particular attention will be focused on pop music and how musical preferences are shaped by current events in our culture.

Pettijohn joined the CCU faculty in 2008 and earned a bachelor's degree in psychology in 1995 from Ohio State University. He earned master's and doctorate degrees in social psychology from the University of Georgia. Pettijohn conducts research in the areas of interpersonal attraction, relationships and how environmental conditions influence social preferences. ??His research findings have been published in the journals Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, the Journal of Social Psychology, and Media Psychology and have also been covered in the media by MSNBC, CNN and the Discovery Channel.

Pettijohn has been recognized as a consistently high performer based on department chair and student evaluations. He mentors student researchers in his senior thesis courses, as well as in several independent studies. Pettijohn also coordinates CCU's Department of Psychology's program of planning and assessment, quality enhancement, course development and other initiatives meant to strengthen and build the university's psychology program.

Pettijohn is a member of the Association for Psychological Science, the American Psychological Association, and the Society of Personality and Social Psychology. ??His areas of expertise include social psychology, interpersonal relationships, love, attraction, dating, popular culture and music preferences.