TEACHING EXPERIENCES

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Instructor, Industrial/Organizational Psychology (PSYC 231), Rice University

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Co-Instructor, Industrial/Organizational Psychology (PSYC 231), Rice University  

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Guest Lecturer, Department of Psychology, Gokhale Memorial Girls’ College,

Kolkata, India                         

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MENTORING EXPERIENCES

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        I have had ample experience mentoring undergraduate students throughout my entire graduate career and I have found this to be one of the most invaluable rewards of graduate school. In our lab, I supervise undergraduate RAs, who come from different ethnicities and socio-cultural backgrounds. I spend almost 10-12 hours every week with them during which we have discussions about various social issues, in addition to having work-related discussions. I must confess that our long discussions have improved my perceptions of cross-cultural differences, and have helped me to identify the unique attributes of Indian culture, which I never realized while I was in India. My regular interaction with students is thus a symbiotic process.

 

        Over the last four years, we have created a strong team spirit in our lab. I strongly encourage and support undergraduate research initiatives in our lab. Some of my RAs showed tremendous potential in research and they are also coauthors of one of our journal articles and conference papers. Although the expected teacher-student dynamics are somewhat different in India than that in the US because of the cultural differences, I believe I was able to make my Indian students comfortable to approach me with their course-related concerns in and outside the classroom which often led to discussions regarding higher education. As an undergraduate student mentor, I also support other undergraduate students in their academic pursuits and graduate school applications. It gives me great pleasure when I hear about their achievements.

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