Raising the Bar for the Training of College Teachers: An Interview with Victor Benassi

Abstract

Victor A. Benassi earned his bachelor's degree from California State College and his PhD in psychology from the City University of New York. After working in the Department of Psychology at California State University at Long Beach, he moved to the University of New Hampshire (UNH) in 1982. He is currently Professor of Psychology and Professor of College Teaching. He has been one of the leaders of his department's long-standing Preparing Future Faculty (PFF) component of the PhD program. In 2003, this program received recognition from the American Psychological Association's (APA) Board of Educational Affairs for its innovation and creativity. He has also played a part, along with several colleagues, in facilitating the development of UNH's academic program in college teaching. UNH received the 2002 Theodore M. Hesburgh Award for Faculty Development to Enhance Undergraduate Teaching (Certificate of Excellence) in recognition of this program. Benassi has received several awards within UNH for his scholarship and teaching and received the Charles L. Brewer Distinguished Teaching of Psychology Award from the American Psychological Foundation in 2003. His research has focused on judgment and belief, and he has published articles on belief in alleged paranormal phenomena, illusory control, and judgment of contingency. He also maintains an ongoing program of research with a colleague on teaching and learning at the college level.

David J. Wimer is the past chair of the Society for the Teaching of Psychology's (STP) Graduate Student Teaching Association. In 1998 he received his bachelor's degree in psychology from Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York. While at Ithaca, he had the pleasure of working on Barney Beins's psychology of humor research team. He received his MA in social psychology from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and is currently working toward a PhD in counseling psychology from the University of Akron in Akron, Ohio, where he works with Loreto Prieto.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

American Psychological Association. (2005). Preparing future faculty: Welcome to the preparing future faculty website! Retrieved November 27, 2005, from http://www.apa.org/ed/pff.html.

Benassi

V. A.

Jordan

E. A.

Harrison

L. M.

(1994). Using teaching modules to train and supervise graduate TAs. In Lewis

K. G.

(Ed.), The TA experience: Preparing for multiple roles (pp. 183–188). Stillwater, OK: New Forums Press.

Boice

(1992). The new faculty member: Support and fostering professional development. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Buskist

Beins

B. C.

Hevern

V. W.

(Eds.). (2004). Preparing the new psychology professoriate: Helping graduate students become competent teachers (pp. 17–23). Syracuse, NY: Society for the Teaching of Psychology. Retrieved November 27, 2005, from http://www.teachpsych.org/teachpsych/pnpp/.

Buskist

Tears

R. S.

Davis

S. F.

Rodrigue

K. M.

(2002). The teaching of psychology course: Prevalence and content. Teaching of Psychology, 29, 140–142.

The Graduate Student Teaching Association. (2005). The Graduate Student Teaching Association homepage. Retrieved November 27, 2005, from http://www3.uakron.edu/gsta/.

Prieto

L. R.

Meyers

S. A.

(Eds.). (2001). The teaching assistant training handbook: How to prepare TAs for their responsibilities. Stillwater, OK: New Forums.

The Society for the Teaching of Psychology. (2005, November). The Society for the Teaching of Psychology homepage. Retrieved November 27, 2005, from http://teachpsych.lemoyne.edu/teachpsych/div/divindex.html.

The University of New Hampshire Center for Teaching Excellence. (2005, November). Online course: Grad 980. Preparing to teach a psychology course. Retrieved November 27, 2005, from http://unh.edu/teaching-excellence/GRAD980/Index.htm.