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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nWhy did you come to Centre?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Because I love teaching, and I specifically looked for a college where it is teaching-centered, not highly research. But I wanted to continue my research as well without just neglecting all the stuff that I did so far because that was all hard work, so when I interviewed at Centre, I felt like it is more student-centered. During the interview\u2026students especially interacted with me. I love being with students, love teaching, and love being in a calm, nice, welcoming, helping-each-other kind of a culture. I felt Centre has that, so that\u2019s why, my main [decision was] \u201cOkay, I\u2019m going to say \u2018yes\u2019 to this offer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Have you taught before coming to Centre?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I was teaching in Sri Lanka\u2026but then they were like, \u201cOkay, if you\u2019re going to continue in this route, you need a PhD, otherwise you cannot go get promoted, obviously.\u201d So then I applied for [my] Master\u2019s in [the] US. Then I was teaching as a [Graduate Assistant]. [Then] I went for [my] PhD and, again, teaching as a GA, but because I was at Central Michigan University where we get to teach our own classes [and we] take two research classes where we have to actually read \u201cteaching in college\u201d related research. We [had] to do two internships with an actual professor. During that experience, I was polishing myself a lot, especially trying to be empathetic. I was a very strict person before, actually, very strict. I had to change [the] way that I did things [and] how I looked at my students, obviously. So, if you guys had me, like, five years ago, I would have been [a] very strict person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What has your teaching experience at Centre been? Is it very different from teaching in other places?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/strong>Previously, in Sri Lanka, I was teaching really big classes [with] more than [a] hundred students in front of me. While doing my Master\u2019s and PhD, I had smaller classes, like, 30s, 40s kind of. So, then, coming to Centre, I noticed, small classes sizes. I love that because I get to see what are you guys writing. I don\u2019t have to wait until you make [a] mistake on the exam. And I found very enthusiastic students asking very good questions, very valid questions, [and] tak[ing] the constructive criticism very well. When I say, \u201cHey, guys, this is not what we expect in this class, this is like a 200-level\u201d you guys [took] that feedback and chang[ed] how you write your answers. I was so impressed by that, that \u201coh my God, they listened to me, and they want to improve, and they\u2019re coming to my office hour\u201d You guys are so motivating, coming to office hours. In other colleges [where] I taught, it was very hard to get the students to come into the office hours, but I know that you guys are coming in here. I love that because in the class you get only sixty minutes, there\u2019s a limit to what you can cover, but if you\u2019re in my office, we can go, like, step-by-step. I love students coming here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Do you have any observations about Centre?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I really love how you guys interact outside of class. With the Math Lunches I was like, \u201cAre they even coming to these?\u201d But we had like a full, I think, 30-40 people there. That was really good, and I don\u2019t usually see that among undergraduates. If you are a grad student, you kind of have to attend the seminars, but undergraduates very rarely come to math related outside-class-stuff, so I was very motivated looking at you guys at the Math Lunch where your friends were presenting about their summer research. \u201cOh my gosh, like, they respect each other, and they care [about] what each other is doing outside of class.\u201d Yeah, I think that\u2019s unique. You don\u2019t see that [at] every college. I like the culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What are you teaching in the spring?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n My new course was finally named as \u201cAdvanced Interpolation Methods.\u201d This is my first time in my life creating a course, so a challenge to me. I think I have very good students at Centre who have the potential to do some advanced math class where it\u2019s going to be not only concepts but applying it to research. I want to say I\u2019m looking forward to working with you guys as I explore my journey as a new professor here, designing a new course [where we will be] reading some research papers and trying to code using MatLab. I\u2019m having high hopes for you guys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My Experience:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I took Dr. Pallage\u2019s Linear Algebra course, and I was extremely worried that I\u2019d be hopelessly behind and perpetually confused, but, thanks to Dr. Pallage\u2019s patience, I am not failing! Every time I went to office hours (which was frequent<\/em>), she calmly explained and went through the problems and theorems I was confused with. Even in class, as soon as someone asks to go through an example again, she does not hesitate to do so. Dr. Pallage is all about communication and helping whenever needed\u2014great qualities for a great professor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Interview with Dr. Cope:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Why did you come to Centre?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I went to a liberal arts college as an undergrad near Philadelphia, and I absolutely loved it, so when I was on the job market, I was looking for a place to be able to teach what I want to teach. I was living in Florida at the time, but then I was also looking for a community. Florida\u2019s a place where not a lot of people are from, and a lot of people come for school or retirement, but there\u2019s not a lot of community there, so I was clear in my application that I was looking for a spot that I could assimilate into and belong to, so Centre was a great fit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Have you taught before coming to Centre?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ve been the primary instructor in courses. I\u2019ve taught social psychology, research methods, and statistics, but I was a graduate student at the time, so this is my first ever professor position. I\u2019m an assistant professor now, but I have taught varying levels of psychology courses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What has your experience at Centre been teaching wise?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s been really lovely. I\u2019m teaching Psychology of Sexuality, and that\u2019s a course that\u2019s new to the college and new to me, so that\u2019s been a really big learning experience but also pretty thrilling. [And] then just getting to know Centre students and how great they are, what you all are capable of, and that you want to learn and the amount of preparation that you all do for class is encouraging to me. There\u2019s definitely a discourse of \u201cwhat level are students prepared at for college?\u201d People will say, you know, \u201ctest scores are down\u201d [or] \u201creading ability is down.\u201d But when I interact with Centre students I am filled with hope and encouragement; over the past few months I have gotten to know students who have the level of critical thinking, passion, and drive that we need to move our world forward. <\/p>\n\n\n\n What do you want students to know about you?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I love my job, and my job is to work with students in the classroom and in the lab, and that includes mentorship, so if anyone has things they want to talk about, about psychology or just professional paths, I\u2019m very open to those discussions. I\u2019m here for all students. I have a service initiative, and trying to foster belongingness and inclusion, that\u2019s very important to me and my research. I value engagement in diverse types of ways from readings I assign to in-class participation. As an undergrad I wouldn\u2019t have wanted to participate. Pretty much up until my senior year, I wasn\u2019t a big talker, so I really focus on creating those welcoming environments and giving students a space to say their opinions and make it a rich dialogue. Also, psychology is one of those fields where we sort of touch all parts of life so students come in with their own experiences, and I think something that we do is mak[e] the familiar strange and then applying that scientific method to it. If students are like, \u201cwhat\u2019s it going to be like to have Dr. Cope,\u201d you can probably expect that from all things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What are you teaching in the spring?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m teaching Social Psychology, which is Psych 360, and then I\u2019m teaching Psych 210, which is the advanced research methods section, so there\u2019s lecture, and then there\u2019s lab. So students will be doing their own research projects, and that\u2019ll be fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My Experience:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I took Dr. Cope\u2019s Survey of Psychological Science course, but, although it was a gen-ed course for me, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Dr. Cope has plenty of energy and truly enjoys psychology. Her interest is infectious and made me as a student enjoy it more than I thought I would. She encourages discussions and questions, has her doors open for any help a student needs, and is generally a funny and kind person. Also, she has great style (Does this affect her teaching? Not at all, but who doesn\u2019t love fashion?). There is a lot of content in her courses to learn, but she\u2019s an incredibly kind and intelligent professor at Centre. Dr. Cope upholds Centre toughness standards with a friendly smile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Aelwen Iredale This year, Centre has hired several new professors, and they are as eager to get to know us as we are to get to know them. So, I am here to shed some light on these new professors and welcome them to Centre\u2019s campus. Interview with Dr. Pallage: Why did you come […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":8553,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8552"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8556,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8552\/revisions\/8556"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/image-24.png\")
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