During the week of Feb. 10, multiple psychology department members and collaborators presented at the Society for the Teaching of Psychology's Online Annual Conference on Teaching.
Assistant Professor of Psychology Kristina Howansky, Assistant Professor of Psychology Anandi Ehman, Associate Professor of Psychology Gili Freedman and Associate Professor of Psychology Scott Mirabile led a 45-minute synchronous symposium titled “Fostering Belonging and Professional Identity in Underrepresented Psychology Students: Designing Emerging Scholars Programs.”
Psychology programs attract diverse students, yet the development of belonging and professional identity for underrepresented groups still needs to be improved. Statistics and research methods courses often challenge students, impacting their trajectories as future psychologists. This symposium detailed the SMCM Emerging Scholars in Psychology program, an optional course taken with Statistics/Research Methods to build community, support professional development, and reinforce foundational concepts. They reviewed the need for such programs, course structure, and student feedback, and discussed strategies for program sustainability. Attendees gained actionable insights for creating and maintaining programs that enhance belonging and retention for underrepresented psychology students.
Mirabile, Ehman, Freedman, Howansky and collaborator Nicole Lorenzetti (The City College of New York) also led a Participant Idea Exchange on “Antiracist Pedagogy: Theoretically grounded suggestions for course content.” Educators are interested in anti-racist pedagogy, yet little scholarship addresses antiracist pedagogy in psychology classes (see Ahmed, 2008; Costa & Bedir, 2022; Gillborn et al. 2023; Steele et al., 2023). Framed by Okun’s (2021) critique of White Supremacy Culture, we share anti-racist content for psychology courses: the hidden curriculum; critical information literacy; representational diversity; connections with the “real world;” critiquing psychology as a discipline; race, racism, and whiteness; and antiracist mindsets (e.g., intersectionality) and skills (e.g., activism). Participants in this session discussed concrete recommendations that they could immediately incorporate into their teaching.
