Sandy Goss Lucas, PhD
Title: Director of Introductory Psychology
Department: Psychology
College: Liberal Arts and Sciences
Interview
What classes do you teach?
- I teach a Discovery/James Scholar section of Introductory Psychology each semester.
What do you enjoy most about teaching at Illinois?
I love working with the students, especially freshmen. I like "introducing" them to college life and helping them with issues such as study skills. Introductory psychology covers a lot of issues that are relevant to first semester students, e.g. learning & memory, stress & coping.
Do you have a unique teaching method or project you assign?
As their final paper, I have students pick a current popular movie with psychological content (almost every movie!). Then the student is given detailed instructions on how to analyze the movie, find and analyze a research/scholarly article on the psychological concept, and integrate the textbook information into a "capstone" paper. I think students enjoy writing this paper and I certainly enjoy reading them. My goal is that because students practice applying critical/analytical skills to a popular movie, they might extrapolate those skills to apply to current events, the print and visual media, etc.
Describe your greatest professional accomplishment.
I think there are two. One was winning the Department, College, and Campus award for teaching excellence. That was a huge honor.
Another was winning the graduate student mentoring award from the Psychology Graduate student organization. Another huge honor.
What sparked your interest in your field of study?
I started my college career (here at the U of I) studying to be a math teacher. After one-year, I changed to becoming a social science teacher--so I took psychology, sociology, political science, geography, etc. But I always enjoyed psychology. After I graduated and was certified to teach at the 6-12 grade levels, I got my first job teaching at Danville Area College (then Danville Junior College)and realized that I really enjoyed teaching psychology. So, I went back to the U of I as a non-degree student during the summers to take more psychology courses. When I went back to Indiana University to get my Ph.D. it was in Educational Psychology (because of my interest in teaching and the research literature on teaching) with minors in Psychology and Women's Studies.
What's your favorite aspect of life at Illinois?
I love living in a college town. I like being around young people, having the opportunity to attend seminars in my field, and in areas outside my field, and the "perks" of a college town. Krannert Center for the Performing Arts--with the symphonies, plays, and eclectic performances is a huge bonus to living here. Also, I grew up in Champaign and my extended family lives here, another bonus.
What book, related to your field, do you recommend reading?
I think that anything written by Oliver Sacks, especially The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat would be excellent reading.
If you are interested in being a teacher, Wilbert McKeachie and Marilla Svinicki's Teaching Tips is an outstanding resource.
Do you have any advice for entering students?
I used to be a faculty participant in Summer Orientation for entering freshmen. I polled all of my freshmen students at the end of their freshman year to see what they "wished they had known when they first came to the U of I". And there were many replies, including bring more socks than you think you need, and ask for academic help when you need it. But overwhelmingly two pieces of advice emerged. One, stay on top of your studies--do not get behind. And two, find something you are interested in and do it. Whether it is joining a band, chorus, dance team, photography club, etc. Find a group that shares your interests and then find new interests. There are so many activities to be involved in--don't short-change your experience at the University of Illinois.