PsychSessions: Conversations about Teaching N' Stuff

In this episode Eric interviews Chelsea Robertson from the Community College of Baltimore County (Maryland). Chelsea shares her teaching load (5,5), current courses (intro psychology and lifespan development) across in-person and asynchronous modalities, and a planned spring overload of eight classes, mostly asynchronous, with extra compensation. She describes CCBC as a primarily minority-serving community college with manageable class sizes and a contract split of 70% teaching, 20% service, and 10% professional development, including conference support and ACUE training. She outlines service roles (Academic Standards Committee, Teaching and Learning Roundtable chair, and psychology faculty convener) and extensive involvement with STP/ACT, including completing a three-year ACT steering committee term. She also recounts her path from Tennessee through graduate school, early-career teaching anxieties, mentoring by Jason Spiegelman, and how STP support kept her in the profession.
[Note: Portions of the show notes were generated by Descript AI.]

In this (Re-Release) episode, Eric interviews Regan Gurung of the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay. From his childhood in Bombay to Carleton College, "tend and befriend," reunion planning, and his service to introductory psychology, this wide-ranging conversation reveals a career filled with fascinating stories.

In this APA Publishing-PsychSessions partner series, Garth Neufeld talks with Carlota Ocampo and Diane Forbes Berthoud about their edited book Building Inclusive Campuses: Promoting Mental Health, Wellness, and Success for Students of Color. Carlota links racist incident-based trauma and mental health to learning outcomes, argues for "historically excluded" framing, and outlines the book's three sections: systems, curricular/extracurricular, and individual. She explains the project began in 2023 and stayed focused on students of color despite political backlash to DEI, emphasizing demographic shifts, retention, and accreditation pressures. The conversation highlights trauma-informed principles (safety, transparency, peer support, collaboration, empowerment, cultural/historical/gender awareness), culturally responsive supports, and belonging through recognition, representation in curriculum, student agency, experiential/community-based learning, and leadership support; panelists urge building cross-campus allies and stopping practices that drive first-year dropouts and problematize students.
[Note. Portions of the show notes were generated by Descript AI.]

In this episode Eric interviews Tedd McDonald from Boise State University in Boise, ID. Tedd recounts arriving at Boise State in Fall 2001, growing up in Nevada City, California, and being an unmotivated, rebellious high school student who joined the Marine Corps Reserves at 17, gained discipline, and used the Montgomery GI Bill in college. He attended community colleges, earned psychology degrees (BA and terminal MA) at CSU Chico, then completed a PhD in social psychology at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, shifting from lab work to community-based research focused on improving lives. After three years teaching at Chico, he chose Boise State—drawn by the capital-city proximity for agency collaboration—despite higher pay in Chico, and recalls a humorous interview breakfast. Tedd discusses his advocacy through Faculty Senate and the AFT union, the associate chair role (internships, student support, adjunct hiring/evaluation), concerns about adjunct exploitation, reluctance to become chair, and a future focus on generativity and supporting newer faculty while managing compassion fatigue.
[Note. Portions of the show notes were generated by Descript AI.]

In this (Re-Release) episode Garth interviews PsychSessions co-founder Eric Landrum from Boise State University in Boise, ID. In November 2019, during a PsychSessions working meeting in Boise, Eric surprised Garth with a request to record a PsychSessions interview (Episode #074). In their first meeting face-to-face since the pandemic, Garth and Eric met again in Boise, and it was only fair that Eric sit still, be patient, and answer Garth's delightful interview questions. You might want to recharge the batteries because this guy is long-winded, but attempting to be a leader during a pandemic with a health scare can make a fella talkative.