Thursday, March 21, 2019

Deuling Teaching


An aspect of being a university professor I greatly enjoy is the opportunity to mentor and help develop students. Throughout my own education and training, I have had the good fortune to learn from enthusiastic and inspiring teachers, mentors, and advisors. Collectively, these mentors have instilled in me not only enthusiasm for learning, but also a respect and commitment to research and the research process. I strive to approach teaching and mentoring with the same enthusiasm and dedication I experienced. In fact, my graduate student advisees tend to propose their Masters’ theses within their first 3 semesters on campus which has earned me a “Mentor of the Year” award in the Psychology Department at Auburn University and I was the advisor and chair for the first PhD student to ever graduate from Roosevelt University, Dr. Ben Sher as well as the second PhD, Dr. Ayesha Jamaspi.

When I teach a course, my primary goal is to establish a learning environment that is both motivating and challenging to students. To this end, my objectives when teaching a course are to (1) generate enthusiasm for the topic, (2) demonstrate the link between theory and practice, and (3) create an environment of respect and fairness.

v  Generate enthusiasm for the topic. I am excited about the courses I teach and one goal is to communicate this excitement to my students. I truly believe the topics I have had the opportunity to teach are exciting, interesting, and essential to a well-rounded college education. I consider the courses I have taught – social psychology, groups and teams, organizational psychology, leadership and motivation, diversity in organizations – to be broadly applicable to many future careers and real life experiences. By conveying this attitude, my goal is to leave the students with a sense of having learned a topic that is important and will be useful in their real-life. I believe it is easier to generate enthusiasm amongst the students for the course topic when I am excited and interested in the topic as well.

v  Demonstrate the link between theory and practice. I take every opportunity to demonstrate the link between theory and practice. I take great pleasure in tying the theoretical structures presented in lecture and discussion to examples the students may relate to. This presents an interesting challenge to me to both know my material well enough to confidently apply the theories and to know my students well enough to present a relevant example that will illustrate a theory and resonate with them. My aim in presenting information in this way is to provide a stimulating environment that encourages a deeper level of comprehension. In my courses, I offer projects, papers, and assignments that link theory and practice as much as possible. For example, students have created a book of activities, assessments and interventions for groups and teams, conducted interviews on the experiences of prejudice and stigma at work, taken in-depth assessments to better understand themselves and their future career goals, and I have invited practitioners to speak on topics whenever relevant.

v  Create an environment of respect and fairness. While creating a classroom environment of respect and fairness is vital in all universities, teaching at an urban University with a diverse student body demands a considerable amount of emphasis on respect and fairness. With students from a variety of ethnic and religious backgrounds, it becomes important to facilitate understanding and respect in the classroom. This includes encouraging student participation and questions, ensuring the grading process is fair by applying the same standards to everyone consistently, and creating a respectful classroom environment so that all students feel free to discuss topics of interest. This is an important goal I strive to meet with each course I teach.

My development of graduate students extends beyond the traditional classroom experience as well. As the President of the Chicago Industrial/Organizational Psychologists (CIOP), I have created the now International CIOP Consulting Challenge for 2nd year MA and PhD students in I/O Psychology. Students from Canada to Florida to California have flown in to Chicago to be randomly assigned to 3-5 person groups and have 3 days to create a solution to a real organizational issue. The sponsoring organization is a surprise until the day of the competition and has so far included the Chicago Transit Authority, Walgreens, United Airlines, and Sears Holdings. This event provides students an opportunity to practice applying the knowledge, skills, and abilities they have cultivated in graduate school to a real organization in a supportive environment. This event also allows me the unique opportunity to expose graduate students across the country to the practice of I/O psychology and helps bridge the gap between science and practice in the discipline for years to come. With many graduate students in I/O Psychology going into the applied realm, having an opportunity to practice their skills is rare but invaluable for students’ development. The winning team gets the opportunity to interview for an internship at the sponsoring organization or a cash prize, depending on internship availability. Many Roosevelt PhD and MA students in I/O Psychology have benefitted from this International program by being on the winning team and securing internships.

In addition to the CIOP Consulting Challenge, the CIOP board and I have created the Veteran’s Resume Workshop as a way for students and professionals to help prepare Veteran’s for private sector jobs. We have also created a job shadowing mentoring program that matches students with professionals for a job shadowing experience as well as a follow-up panel discussion on what was learned during the job shadowing. I am proud of the contributions I have made to create these opportunities for students and even professionals to continue to develop and grow. I look forward to continuing this merging of theory and practice in any way I can.

Teaching Assignments


My specific teaching and advising responsibilities since the last RTP review are detailed in the tables below.

Semester & Year
Course Number
Course Title
Spring 2018
Psyc 757
Leadership & Motivation
Spring 2018
Psyc 462
Advanced Organizational Psychology
Fall 2017
Psyc 756
Advanced Organizational Psychology
Fall 2017
Psyc 774
Group Dynamics & Team Processes
Summer 2017
Psyc 344
I/O Psychology
Summer 2017
Psyc 787
Professional & Ethical Issues
Spring 2017
Psyc 756
Advanced Organizational Psychology
Spring 2017
Psyc 462
Advanced Organizational Psychology
Spring 2017
Psyc 220
Social Psychology Online
Fall 2016
Psyc 753
Training & Development Seminar
Fall 2016
Psyc 530
Advanced Research Methods
Summer 2016
Psyc 671
Diversity in Organizations
Spring 2016
Psyc 220
Social Psychology Online
Spring 2016
Psyc 462
Advanced Organizational Psychology
Fall 2015
Psyc 756
Advanced Organizational Psychology
Fall 2015
Psyc 633
Social Psychology & Group Dynamics
Summer 2015
Psyc 220
Social Psychology Online
Spring 2015
Psyc 756
Advanced Organizational Psychology
Fall 2014
Psyc 753
Training & Development Seminar
Fall 2014
Psyc 530
Advanced Research Methods
Summer 2014
Psyc 671
Diversity in Organizations
Spring 2014
Psyc 757
Leadership & Motivation
Fall 2013
Psyc 663
Group Dynamics & Team Processes
Fall 2013
Psyc 756
Advanced Organizational Psychology

Advising Responsibilities


Mentoring and advising students through their thesis and dissertations is a large part of my teaching responsibilities. I have a structured approach for helping my students reach these research milestones. For a thesis research project, I meet with the student weekly to ensure forward movement and give them manageable weekly assignments. Together, we conceptualize their ideas, they work on drafts of the proposal document, and we finalize the research methodology and analysis plan. After the student proposes their thesis, we collect data and together, screen their data and analyze the data. The student is then charged with writing the results and discussion section with my close supervision and timely feedback (I have a two week turnaround). This process is important to not only educate the students of the research process, but to also build self-esteem and confidence in their own research prowess and abilities. The success of this approach can be seen with the timeliness of my students’ reaching their milestones, the presentations and publications of my students’ work, and the resulting internships and jobs attained by my students. Further, by the time these students begin work on their dissertations, they require less supervision from me and have taken on large, complex, and meaningful projects. For example, Anjali Banerjee’s dissertation involved interviewing top-level leaders and talented surgeons to create a situational judgement test to be used in the selection of surgical residents at a large medical school in Texas.    

Graduate students in our terminal Master’s program complete an internship and an internship paper under the direction of a faculty member. These students meet with me weekly as well while they craft their papers and topical interests. Below is a list of students who I have the pleasure of working with as the chair of their educational milestone.

Student
Milestone
Status / Date Completed
Current Employment
Ashley Chung
Dissertation
In progress
Pepsico
Robert McMahon
Dissertation
In progress
Home Depot
Kyle Page
Dissertation
In progress
U of South Dakota
Shelomi Gomez
Dissertation
In progress
-
Colleen Gellar
Internship
In progress
Arlington Resources
Kennedy Lambert
Internship
In progress
Information Resources International
Katherine Karwowski
Internship
In progress
Human Capital Metrics & Analytics
Emily Ballesteros
Internship
In progress
Rotary International
Mariah Rosado
Internship
In progress
Chicago Transit Authority
Min Woo Lee
Thesis
In progress
-
Jessica Panzica
Thesis
In progress
-
Charles Fales
Thesis
In progress
RU OECC
Zuky Robles
Thesis
Proposal pending
Chicago Transit Authority
Mackenzie Crawford
Thesis
In progress
-
Daniel Riley
Thesis
In progress
Amrock
Caitlyn McLysaght
Thesis
In progress
RU OECC
Kacie Terranova
Thesis
In progress
IO Solutions
Anjali Banerjee
Dissertation
Proposed
Golub Capital
Julia Markus
Thesis
Proposed
UI Labs
Lauren Merwin
Thesis
Proposed
Information Resources International
Roni Kholomyansky, PsyD
Dissertation
August, 2018
Santa Clara U
Divya Jain, PsyD
Dissertation
August, 2018
St. Louis VA in Jefferson Barracks
Amy Motyka
Thesis
August, 2017
Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund
Karina Sanchez
Internship
May, 2017
Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
Ayesha Jamaspi
Dissertation
May, 2017
Bitwise, Inc
Ashley Chung
Thesis
December, 2016
-
Shelomi Gomez
Thesis
December, 2016
-
Carla Scott
Internship
May, 2016
Tandem HR
Poonam Dhillon
Internship
May, 2016
Sears Holdings Corp.
Ben Sher
Dissertation
May, 2016
Ioatwork.com
Anjali Banerjee
Thesis
August, 2015
-
Brandon Hutton
Internship
May, 2015
Cuyahoga County
Alexandra Plesh-Anos
Internship
August, 2015
Villa Healthcare
Mandy Frolich
Internship
May, 2015
Davis Staffing
Nicholas Baldwin
Thesis
December, 2014
Roosevelt U
Lisa Yutalas
Thesis
May, 2014
Advocate Health Care
Jenna Littin
Internship
April, 2013
Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL)

Additional responsibilities include serving as a reader of dissertations, theses, and internship papers for graduate students I do not directly advise. I also work on research, conference presentations, and publications with students who work in different labs than my own. Finally, each semester the PhD faculty write and grade comprehensive exam questions. Because student milestones and development depend on these additional duties, I am committed to timely turnarounds for feedback to students. A week to two weeks is a common expectation from my students.

Student Evaluations


In the discipline of Industrial/Organizational Psychology, there are two very distinctive sub-disciplines. Industrial Psychology (I-side) focuses on more concrete steps required to legally and fairly select, hire, and evaluate employees. Teaching courses on the I-side is amenable to structure, practical steps, lecture, and the basic training of more static information. Organizational Psychology (O-side) is the opposite in nearly every way. The O-side is focused on abstract theory, why employees and leaders act and respond in certain ways, at certain times, and in certain environments. Teaching the O-side topics require acceptance of ambiguity and forcing students to think critically about when and under what circumstances theory will hold up and when it may fail. Faculty and students often have an affinity to one side or the other and the teaching style usually aligns rather well with their preference. Unfortunately, this means students get frustrated when they must take courses and be taught in a way that does not fit their preferences. I try to warn students about this when classes begin but at times, the frustration is still there. I’ve long accepted that most students will not appreciate thinking about the “it depends” and “what ifs” until long after they have left my classroom. But as a subject matter expert, I do my best to prepare the students for the experience, provide opportunities to practice skills in a real world and/or practical manner, and give the students a forum to question and stretch theories. This is all in the hopes that they will become effective organizational problem-solvers, which is the heart of I/O Psychology.

Deuling Service


The mission of Roosevelt University is reflected and supported by the service experiences I have had. As a general rule, I seek impactful opportunities that will involve creation of new programs and managing change, support diversity in academia, and promote social justice. Below I describe my more impactful service to Roosevelt University, our students, and my discipline. I do not detail service that is more of a routine participation as I don’t consider that impactful but simply expected. I do participate in these activities, however, and am happy to expand on these experiences if necessary.

Service to Shared Governance at University, College, and Departmental Levels


I arrived at Roosevelt University from a traditional research university to help create the first PhD program in the history of Roosevelt University. Though I was not hired to be the program director of the PhD program, my contribution to this endeavor includes many leading and supporting tasks ranging from recruitment, matriculation of students through milestones, teaching a wide variety of PhD-level courses, providing students with applied experiences in the field, and serving as reference for students’ internships and jobs. I will spotlight the impact of just one role I have played in the creation of the PhD program.

My contribution to the recruitment of students includes creating a battery of questions used to interview potential graduate students, participating in the recruitment of students through interviews and meetings, and in my role as President of Chicago Industrial Organizational Psychologists. From these positions and tasks I help attract and select students that would not likely get a chance to become an I/O Psychologist at a traditional research intensive university like the one I came from. After 6 years of having the PhD program in I/O Psychology, I can honestly say we have some of the most diverse students in the US. Beyond having been my students, our first PhD student, Ben Sher, is an ordained Rabbi and our second PhD student, Ayesha Jamaspi, came to RU from India. The 41 PhD students that have enrolled in the program include the widest range of sexual identities, ages, ethnic identities, and socioeconomic backgrounds I have seen in a PhD program. In fact, one current PhD student was advised to apply to our program because he would be considered “too old” to be accepted anywhere else. Social justice is reflected in the recruitment and selection of the amazing students we have in the PhD program. I am confident that I played a role in the diversity found amongst our students and in building an inclusive culture that our students thrive in.  

Beyond my contributions to the PhD program, I have served as program director for the I/O Psychology MA program for 2 years. This service was during the transition from having the I/O MA program in Schaumburg and Chicago, to having all I/O faculty moved to Chicago and having just one MA program in Chicago. This location transition was unexpected as was my taking on the program director role (due to faculty departure in the summer). On a personal note, during the time of my directorship I had my first child who had severe complications at birth that included an extended stay in the NICU and numerous resulting health issues. Regardless, for 2 years I managed all recruitment activities, enrollment decisions, curriculum and schedule changes, monitoring of student progress, graduation audits, and student program-related decisions on my own. In my time as director, we had an increase in both quality and quantity of applications to the program.

Currently, I serve as Chair of the Global Diversity & Inclusion (GD&I) task force. This multidisciplinary committee is charged by President Malekzadeh with creating the blueprint for a potential GD&I center and most recently, curriculum for an Executive Certification program. The task force has been a great intellectual exercise that is finally seeing some returns on investment. So far I have led the committee in the creation of questions to be asked in focus groups of local GD&I professionals and in follow-up telephone interviews, conducted a comprehensive audit of competitive certification programs, creation of 6 unique modules based on interdisciplinary research, and coordinated a meeting of industry professionals who serve as our advisory committee. Our status as of August 1, 2018 is finalizing our content and meeting with the advisory board to ensure our modules will be effective in helping C-suite executives understand the issues and needs of GD&I in their organizations. The certification will be announced and officially launched at the American Dream Conference with a reception on September 11, 2018. This program will serve as a revenue stream for the university and hopefully, be the inaugural product for a future Center for Global Diversity & Inclusion.

Below is a list of service to the Roosevelt University community.

Role
Title
Committee or Task
Leading
Chair
Global Diversity and Inclusion Task Force
Leading
Faculty
PhD in I/O Psychology Program
Leading
Lead
Creation of Disabilities Studies BA program (on hold)
Leading
Creator/Faculty Mentor
RU ConnectI/Ons, RU I/O Newsletter for alumni and students
Leading
Project Consultant
Mansfield Institute for Social Justice & Transformation
Supporting
Chair
Search Committee, I/O MA Director
Supporting
Member
Retention Committee, College of Arts and Sciences
Supporting
Instructor
ACP 101: Freshman Seminar
Supporting
Faculty Advisor
Roosevelt Industrial/Organizational Psychology Association (RIOPA) student organization
Supporting
Faculty Mentor
McNair Scholar’s Program
Supporting
Presenter
Sparling Lecture
Supporting
Presenter
Doctoral Consortium, Midwestern Academy of Mgmt
Supporting
CAS-Psych
Community College Liaison for Schaumburg  campus
Routine
Member
Budget & Finance Committee (starting Fall, 2018)
Routine
Member
I/O MA Committee
Routine
Member
I/O PhD Committee
Routine
Member
Course Release Task Force
Routine
Member
Dept. Meetings
Routine
Member
Commencement & Convocation

Service to Profession


In an effort to get the RU brand out, start building the necessary relationships our students will need to succeed, and have a way to create programs that support my values, I joined and became President of the Chicago Industrial/Organizational Psychologists (CIOP). The network and relationships built with alumni through this service leadership has been invaluable to the program and students in I/O Psychology.

When I became President of CIOP in 2011, I was handed the checkbook and a bill for the lawyer’s fees to submit our annual report to the state. Unfortunately, the bill was larger than the amount of money in the checking account. In my time as President, we have gone from $50 and no actual dues paying members to over $5,000 and over 100 dues paying members. Our LinkedIn account has a reach of over 1,600 I/O psychologists from around the world and our CIOP.net site has over 500 people that have signed up and attended one of our events. The group has become valuable enough that for the first time, we have had to interview for board members and reject over half of the candidates to keep the board size manageable. We have gone from unstructured and unpredictable meetings at local bars to 5 meetings a year with predictability in events and timing. Specifically, our annual events include a networking event at The Drake Hotel, the Veteran’s Resume Workshop, Pro’s and Con’s Debate on a hot topic in I/O Psychology, a Day in the Life of an I/O job shadowing event, and the Consulting Challenge. Of these events, I will discuss the Consulting Challenge in more detail.

To create a mechanism for students to more fully experience the scientist-practitioner model, I created and manage the CIOP Consulting Challenge. Starting in 2015, the event is a competition for end-of-2nd year graduate students in I/O Psychology to create a solution for a real-world organizational problem. Graduate students nationwide in both I/O MA and PhD graduate programs sign up for the challenge and are randomly assigned to teams (with the stipulation that students from the same schools are NOT on the same teams). These teams are given the request for proposal (RFP) from the host organization and have 2 days to create a solution with deliverables in both a written and presentation format.  Judges, consisting of the host organizations’ subject matter experts (SMEs), area consultants, and academics provide extensive developmental feedback and choose which team has presented the best solution to the organization’s RFP. The winning team members get a guaranteed interview for an internship or $200. In 2018, I linked this event with the SIOP conference in Chicago to increase exposure and lower travel costs for students.

Sponsoring organizations have included Sears, United Airlines, Walgreens, and the CTA. Some of the Universities represented in previous Consulting Challenges come from Bowling Green State University, Claremont Graduate University, California State University-San Bernardino, Fairfield University, Hofstra U, Illinois Institute of Technology, Missouri State, Missouri U of Science & Tech, Roosevelt University, Teachers College - Columbia U, University of Central Florida, University of Guelph, and Wayne State University.

The consulting challenge has many benefits for graduate students, seasoned professionals, and host organizations. Graduate students get real-world experience with helping an area organization manage their people-related concerns using tools and applications from the I/O realm. Seasoned professionals serve as judges to these teams and may gain a few innovative ideas. The local host organization gains access to the best talent graduate programs have to offer with innovative ideas to address their own personalized situation. Plus, the organization gains exposure as a great place to work for I/O psychologists, good will for providing support to the local professional organization (CIOP), and exposure at colleges and universities with programs in I/O Psychology.
 
The benefits to RU students are many. RU students have been part of winning teams, earning internships and jobs at the host organizations, have a real-life experience to add to their resume, gained friendships and professional networks that will last for years, and have a better understanding of how their education compares to other universities. My spearheading of the event gains credibility for the RU I/O Programs that can be seen in the quality of students we have attracted since my tenure here. In fact, as President of CIOP, I have served as the go to contact for future students, venture capitalists seeking knowledge about I/O Psychology, media and television production professionals seeking participants for future shows, etc. For more information specifically about the consulting challenge or CIOP, visit our website at http://www.ciop.net.

Below are a few more traditional services I have provided to the profession.

Role
Title
Committee or Task
Leading
President
Chicago Industrial Organizational Psychologists
Leading
Editorial Board
Journal of Business and Psychology
Supporting
Member, Visibility Committee
Society of Industrial Organizational Psychology
Supporting
Volunteer, Program Committee
Society of Industrial Organizational Psychology
Routine
Ad hoc Reviewer
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology


Journal of Organizational Behavior


Applied Psychology: An International Review


The Leadership Quarterly


Human Relations


Personality and Individual Differences


European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology


Journal of Applied Social Psychology


Stress & Health


Human Resource Development Review


Learning and Individual Differences


British Journal of Management


British Journal of Experimental Psychology


Society of Industrial Organizational Psychology Conference


Academy of Management Conference


American Psychological Association Conference