Teaching

Teaching is one of the most rewarding aspects of my career. My primary goals in teaching are to inform and excite students about the process and content of scientific discoveries in psychology. Since starting at TCU, I have taught undergraduate courses on Social Psychology (PSYC 30353), Personality (PSYC 30443), and Interactive Data Analysis (PSYC 50213), and graduate seminars on Graduate Statistics (PSYC 50423), Personality (PSYC 50493), Regression (PSYC 60623 & PSYC 80500), and Social Psychology (PSYC 60663).

Although teaching courses is obviously a major component of being an academic, I believe that the job of a teacher starts but does not end in the classroom. Students value the knowledge and experience of their teachers and often look to them for mentorship. This may mean simply helping students determine what classes best fit their interests. It may also mean providing students with opportunities to pursue interests in psychology outside of the classroom. For example, I have had the opportunity to help several undergraduate students conduct empirical research. Conducting their own research is something that students find very rewarding, even if they do not plan to pursue a research career. Being an author on a presentation and/or professional publication is a great accomplishment for an undergraduate and it is very rewarding to have helped provide the mentorship needed for that student to pursue and reach that goal.

What follows are a few of the research presentations from our lab: