"Hatcher, Joe" wrote: > > Hi Jeffrey and others, > I teach six courses a year; five of these are mostly fixed, while > one is a "wild-card" course that can be anything I want it to be. I've > taught Peace Studies, the Psychology of Conflict, the Impact of Culture on > Everyday Life, Prejudice, and several others. I can't tell you how much > this is meant to me over the years in terms of developing new interests and > avoiding burnout. > On the other hand, my wife, at a nearby university, teaches the same > three courses every semester, which seems to me to be designed to maximize > burnout :) I wonder how many of my colleagues fall into those two systems? Good points and question!
Departmental and university support is necessary for one to successfully teach non-mainstream courses on a regular basis. Such courses provide the faculty member a way to integrate their teaching and research/professional interests, provides students an additional lens towards the diversity of psychology as a discipline, encourages non-majors to take psychology classes based on unique interests, and helps to avoid burnout. My department and university have been very supportive of my continuing professional development and its impact on the courses that I teach. This is not unique as such support and opportunities are available for everyone in the department and all teach at least one non-mainstream course related to their research interests. It is certainly helpful that we have a number of interdisciplinary programs within the university such as a major in international human rights and minors in women studies and multicultural studies that mesh with some of our interests. Thus, our courses satisfy requirements within those programs. We teach six courses a year and these non-mainstream courses are part of our regular load. One can teach overloads for extra compensation if desired. Warm regards, Linda -- Linda M. Woolf, Ph.D. Book Review Editor, H-Genocide Associate Professor - Psychology Coordinator - Holocaust & Genocide Studies, Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights Webster University 470 East Lockwood St. Louis, MO 63119 Main Webpage: http://www.webster.edu/~woolflm/ mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
