One unique feature across all of our graduate programs is the significant training and experience in teaching available to our students.  This includes:

• Formal coursework on teaching pedagogy and effective classroom teaching
• Formal coursework on effective teaching in online and hybrid settings
• Training to teach specific courses through supervised teaching practica
• Opportunities to serve as:
  • teaching assistants in courses across the department
  • discussion section leaders for Introductory Psychology
  • lab instructors for research methods labs
  • Instructor of record for a variety of other 100, 200, and 300 level courses
• Formative evaluation of teaching through regular classroom observations
• Opportunities to engage in research on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
• Opportunities to be certified at the Associate and Practitioner Level by the Center for the Integration of Teaching, Research, and Learning (CIRTL) Network through completion of training opportunities in the department.
• Opportunities to receive CIRTL certification at the Scholar (highest) level through completion of opportunities both within the department and through the campus center for Teaching and Learning Innovation.

Our goal is for every doctoral student who wants teaching experience to serve as instructor of record at least once.  Many of our doctoral students choose to teach more than this, and, as a result, many of our graduates serve as instructor of record for at least two different courses. This experience, combined with formal training in both face-to-face and online teaching, is unusual and gives our graduates a competitive edge.

Teaching is very important in our department, and many of our faculty have won teaching awards at the departmental, college, university, and even national levels.  Graduate students thus have opportunities to be mentored in their teaching by many faculty members.  However, the two faculty who are most involved in training graduate student instructors are:

• Dr. Erin Hardin, Director of Undergraduate Studies. Dr. Hardin has won multiple teaching awards across her career, including the 2016 Robert S. Daniel Teaching Excellence Award from the Society for the Teaching of Psychology.  She serves on the planning committee for the National Institute for the Teaching of Psychology (NITOP) and the teacher training subgroup of the APA’s Introductory Psychology Initiative, regularly presents at regional and national teaching conferences, and publishes research on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning — often with graduate student co-authors. Click here to learn more about Dr. Hardin. .
• Dr. Bob DuBois, Associate Director of Undergraduate Studies.  Dr. DuBois is an experienced online, hybrid, and in-class (face-to-face) instructor and has taught a wide variety of undergraduate and graduate psychology courses in both community college and university settings. He is active in the Society for the Teaching of Psychology and currently helps lead its activities on social media. He regularly presents workshops and other presentations on a variety of topics relevant to teaching and learning and has developed a series of popular workshops to promote student success. Dr. Bob is certified as a Master Reviewer and Face-to-Face Facilitator for Quality Matters, an organization that develops and shares standards for online curriculum design. He was also selected as Instructor of the Year at his prior institution. Click here to learn more about Dr. DuBois.