What is an average class like?
Mainly a discussion of powerful explanatory ideas. That is, I try to bring to every class what I consider to be a suite of ideas that will maximally illuminate the human drama within and surrounding us.
How do you help students learn material?
I use a lot of things. During lectures I use stories, metaphors, videos, and applications. For study help, I put my lectures online and give study guides for tests. Plus, I'm always available to discuss the class with students.
What do you expect from students?
Curiosity. I want curiosity because that is what infuses learning with excitement and fun. I want psychology students to come to class and research projects with lots of questions about human behavior.
What is your teaching philosophy?
The philosopher Richard Rorty (Philosophy and Social Hope, 1999, pp. 127-128) wrote something that comes very close to how I see my purpose as a teacher. Rorty states that there is a kind of professor whose main objective is the expansion of the “moral imagination.” Rorty states that these professors have the idea that “teaching--or at least the sort of teaching they hope to do--is not exactly the communication of knowledge, but more like stirring the kids up. When [these teachers] apply for a leave or a grant, they may have to fill out forms about the aims and methods of their so-called research projects, but all they really want to do is read a lot more books in the hope of becoming a different sort of person. So the real function of these [teachers] is to instill doubts in the students about the students’own self-images, and about the society to which they belong. These people are the teachers who help ensure that the moral consciousness of each new generation is slightly different from that of the previous generation.” Rorty is correct that, in administrative paperwork and in my public rhetoric, I present myself to be a psychology professor who’s aim is to convey knowledge and skills that translate into measurable student outcomes. But mostly, that person is a display piece for accreditation bodies and tenure and promotion committees. Behind that rhetoric I find my true calling, the calling that infuses my work with passion and commitment. That calling is to help my students “become a different sort of person,” by stirring them up and instilling doubts. Toward what end? To expand their “moral imaginations.” In a recent book, John Paul Lederach, a world expert on peace building, states that moral imagination is that ability “to imagine something rooted in the challenges of the real world yet capable of giving birth to that which does not yet exist.” That is, we imagine possible worlds that minimize our differences, expand our sympathies,and bring an end to the daily cycles of violence. In short, my purpose as a teacher is to help my students use their imaginations to envision such a world and to motivate them to use their skills as psychology majors to make that world a reality.
What strengths do you bring to the department?
Two things, I think. First, I read a lot. Because of this I feel I'm able to brings lots of new, exciting, and current ideas into my classroom. Second, I have an undergraduate degree in Christian Ministry so I like to integrate faith and learning in ways that, I feel, are theologically interesting. That is, I like to use psychology to illuminate religious belief and practice. I like to think of my research as a kind of "experimental theology."
What unique experiences and or advantages do you think ACU graduates have?
For graduate students, you'll get a skill-based curriculum where you actually learn how to do this psychology thing. We repeatedly hear from our graduate alumni who go on to get their Ph.D.s that they are better prepared then their peers from other graduate programs. We are proud of the fact.
What are your research interests?
My research specialties are the psychology of religion and the assessment and treatment of emotional disorders.
What is your educational background?
Ph.D., Experimental Psychology. Southern Methodist University (1997).
M.S., Clinical Psychology. Abilene Christian University (1992).
B.S., Christian Ministry. Abilene Christian University (1989).
What was your dissertation topic?
The cognitive-behavioral treatment of anger problems
What is most important to you?
This quote from Bertrand Russell sums it up best for me: "Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind."
How did you get where you are now?
I was born in Searcy, Arkansas in 1967. But my parents moved to Erie, PA. later that year and I lived in Erie until I attended college
Developmentally, I think the first seeds of wanting to be a teacher were sown in me one day during a kindergarten class. This is my most vivid early childhood memory, I believe because it became so formative. I had worked quickly through a worksheet (something about counting bunnies) to the delight of my teacher. She put a sticker on my shirt and declared me teacher's helper for the lesson. And I recall walking amongst my peers offering advice on counting the bunnies. Looking back now, my life has been an unfolding of that early experience.
During college I moved between majors in philosophy and ministry, but eventually settled on psychology for my graduate work. Before beginning my graduate training in 1991 I married Jana Brooks, a Dallas native and theater major. We have been happily married and having fun ever since.
During my graduate training at Abilene Christian University and Southern Methodist University I became engrossed with experimental/scientific side of my discipline, eventually graduating from SMU in 1997 with a Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology. My early research involved anger management and a chapter of my dissertation is now a widely cited study in the anger literature. More recently, my interests have turned to the psychology of religion and most of my recent publications have been in this area.
But although I love research, I returned to ACU in 1998 because my deep passion is teaching. I did not want to work at a larger “publish or perish” institution where teaching is considered an interference. I wanted to work at an institution populated with people passionate about students and teaching. I'm thankful ACU is such a place. It is very easy to strive for pedagogical excellence when you are surround by smart, committed colleagues who are similarity interested in the craft of teaching.
And as my career has developed, my family has expanded. In 1997 our first son, Brenden Shea, was born. And in 2000, our second son, Aidan Christopher, joined the family. These two little boys have already taught me more than anything I have learned in school or from a book. We find teachers in the most unlikely of places and circumstances.
