School name: University of Victoria

Type of school: Public university with undergraduate and graduate programs (over 20,000 students)

School locale:  Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada on the traditional territory of the Lək̓ʷəŋən (Songhees and Xʷsepsəm/Esquimalt) and the W̱SÁNEĆ Peoples

Is your role mostly in-person, hybrid, online? In person

For how many years have you taught psychology? 9 years (first instructorship as a graduate student was in 2017; 6 years post-PhD)

Classes you teach: Statistical Methods in Psychology (intro and intermediate); Social Cognition; Stereotyping, Prejudice, and Discrimination; Reducing Stereotyping, Prejudice, and Discrimination (community-engaged learning course)

Specialization: I am a teaching stream faculty member focused primarily on teaching undergraduate courses. My research specialization is in social psychology and scholarship of teaching and learning.

What size classes do you teach? 25-100 currently, but I have also taught classes of 200 students

What is a book, article, research, or author/researcher that you would recommend that new teachers check out? I would recommend reading Sue Frantz’s Psych Matters blog about teaching! It’s innovative, current, and has a fresh perspective! There are also various fun application-based activities in there! For stats, the Not Awful and Boring Ideas blog by Jessica Hartnett is a great way to find current and fun real-word examples of stats all around us which can help liven up the topic and make it more relatable for the students and for ourselves!

What do you know now about teaching that you wish you knew when you were starting? In my early teaching days, I thought that I had to be an “expert” on everything or I wouldn’t be respected by students. But this isn’t the case, and it doesn’t model good scientific inquiry and growth for students. Instead, connecting with students in a compassionate way is so much more important!

Briefly describe a favorite assignment or in-class activity.  My favorite assignment is called the Real-World Response Assignment, which I use in my Stereotyping, Prejudice, and Discrimination course (though it can be modified for other course topics too). It involves having students choose a topic on intergroup conflict that they care deeply about, apply theory and research skills to the conflict, consider the many practical issues involved in addressing the intergroup conflict, create a “product” (or intervention) in response to the conflict, and share these real-world responses with their

What’s your dream course if you had the time and resources to teach it? I’ve had many dream courses, and I have been in the extremely lucky position to fulfill several of them so far. My most recent teaching-related dream was to create a community-engaged course on reducing stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination. After 5 years of planning and 2 years of actively building the course, I ran it for the first time in January 2026. Students volunteered with vulnerable populations in the community, learned about improving community relations, and pitched projects to community partners to increase the inclusivity and wellbeing of their clients. The outcomes were better than I hoped for and the experiences were extremely rewarding! I’m so excited to run the course again next year!

What’s your workspace like?  I have two workplaces – one at the university and one at home. Both have chaotic stacks of papers here and there, and every now and then I do a purge which feels great! Both have a monitor and my laptop. But the best part is that both have a massive window with lots of greenery outside – I deeply appreciate this about my workspaces! Check out the view from my university office!

What is something you are currently focused on improving or changing in your teaching?  I’m trying to work on ways to further build community with students in my courses and reduce common anxieties students have (e.g., math anxiety in statistics courses, presentation anxiety in seminar courses). Rather than running away from mastering these skills, I’m trying to increase students’ appreciation for the learning process and that it’s okay (and even very important) to make mistakes. I’m also trying to let students know that they are in a supportive environment where their classmates and I are all rooting for them and that they are not alone in their learning journey.

What is something your students would be surprised to learn about you? I’m a first-generation immigrant, and I speak multiple languages.

What are you currently reading for pleasure? One of my former students recently recommended The Women by Kristin Hannah, so I’m giving it a try. So far, it’s very interesting! I also recently finished a few books by Naomi Novik, which I would recommend for folks interested in fairytale-like fantasy books for adults.

What tech tool could you not live without? Microsoft Office Suite, Adobe, and my phone (though I don’t use it for everything)