Teaching

Teaching, Mentoring, and Advising Experience

I’ve been teaching psychology at Bard College at Simon’s Rock in the Berkshires in western Massachusetts for over 25 years. Simon’s Rock is an “early college,” meaning our students leave high school early to begin college. I am constantly inspired and impressed by the courage and creativity of our students who take this bold step in their educational path. I also teach courses in Simon’s Rock’s new high school program, Bard Academy, at the Bard High School Early Colleges in New York City and Bard MicroCollege in Holyoke, MA. I am proud to say that the ages of the students I teach range from 14 to 60+!

The courses I teach also span a wide range of subjects in psychology. I have taught Introduction to Psychology every semester for over 25 years (more than 50 times!), and I still find it one of my favorite classes! I love introducing students to psychology and sharing with them some of the best (and sadly, worst) moments in the field’s history. Following on Intro, I also teach courses in many topical areas: Social Psychology (with a deep dive into the ideas of the early social psychologist, Kurt Lewin), Developmental Psychology, Introduction to Cognitive Neuropsychology, Political Psychology, Conflict and Conflict Resolution, Theories of Self, Psychology of Adolescence, William James Principles of Psychology, Research Methods, and Introduction to Statistics. I am honored to have been recognized by students at Simon’s Rock with numerous teaching awards, including one of my favorites: Teacher Most Likely to Have Her Own Daytime Talkshow. I am also so very proud of the many psychology graduates from Simon’s Rock, who have gone on to do amazing things and important work in many fields, including psychology (of course), but also education, healthcare, social work, law, social justice/community action, public health, the arts, business and marketing, technology, and more!

While teaching, advising, and mentoring have been my primary foci these past many years, I continue to find time to read about my two main areas of interest: interpersonal conflict and the nature of the self. (My dissertation was entitled The Self-in-Conflict: The Consequences of Conflict On Our Sense Of Self.) Since I get to teach courses on both these topics—conflict and self—I can stay connected to these two topics in psychology. Also, road rage—A Driving Anger—is connected to these interests, as conflicts between drivers are somewhat unusual instances of interpersonal conflict (how often are we confronted with our interdependence with total strangers?). And how we perceive other drivers and feel when enraged on the road are connected, I believe, with how we see ourselves.

Courses

at Bard College at Simon's Rock
Introduction to Social Science (Academy); Introduction to Psychology; Social Psychology; Cognitive Neuropsychology; Developmental Psychology; Quantitative Research Methods in the Social Sciences ; Introduction to Statistics; Conflict and Conflict Resolution; Psychological Theories of Self; Political Psychology; Psychology of Women; Biological Debates at the Turn of the Millennium: Social and Scientific Implications; (co-taught); The Anatomy of Prejudice (co-taught); Freshman Seminar; Writing and Thinking Workshop (week-long workshop for incoming Freshman)

at Bard Microcollege Holyoke
Introduction to Statistics; Introduction to Cognitive Neuropsychology

at The University of Massachusetts, Boston (1996-2003)
Statistics for the Social Sciences (200-level); Social Psychology (200-level); Social Attitudes and Public Opinion (200-level); Introductory Psychology (100-level); Negotiation (graduate-level course)

at Boston College (1990-1997)
Introduction to Psychology-II: Social/Developmental Psychology (100-level); Research Methods Practicum in Interpersonal Relations (300-level); Research Methods Practicum in Intergroup Relations (300-level); Social Attitudes and Public Opinion (200-level); Independent Studies and Tutorials