College of the Pacific

Carolynn Kohn

Teaching Approach

I aspire to be the professor who is “popular” among students not because I am “easy” but because my courses are difficult, demanding in terms of critical thinking and learning on the part of the students while at the same time they are interesting, enjoyable and valuable to students.

Rather than lower standards, I make myself extremely available to students to help them with the course material, provide study suggestions and different ways of examining the material in an attempt to assist students in their learning processes. My father is an excellent role model for me—he is a lifelong secondary mathematics teacher who never taught the same class the same way twice. He constantly updated, remodeled, rejuvenated and modernized his courses so that they remained timely and interesting, and neither he nor his students were ever “bored” by the material—even after 35 years! He always retained what seemed to work, and tried out new things to replace what appeared not to work. He has had numerous students write or tell him that math was their least favorite subject—until they took his class, upon which they found they actually enjoyed learning math and feel they understood it for the first time. I combine this style with the scientist-practitioner model, believing that teaching informed by cutting edge research and theoretical knowledge enhances the overall learning experience. In this way, I frequently supplement textbook materials with recent articles, film clips and other timely materials. Finally, I emphasize critical thinking and skepticism throughout my courses.

Courses

Behavior Change I (PSYC 53)
Pacific Seminar II (PACS02)
Pseudo, Voodoo, and Junk Sciences Couples & Family Therapy (PSYC 155, PSYC 255)
Behavioral Treatments & Applications (PSYC 251)
Supervising & Teaching Behavior Change (PSYC 253)
Controversial Treatments in Applied Settings (PSYC 293)

Special Interests

My research interests tend to be broad, but definitely include a strong interest in substance use/abuse and treatment as well as an interest in interfaith and interracial couples (“mixed” couples). I am also interested in the general area of behavioral psychology as it is applied to a variety of clinical and applied questions. I have worked in the area of End of Life issues in the past, and I hope to work on this interest again in the future.

Bio

I received my B.A. in Psychology from University of California Santa Barbara, and my M.A. and Ph.D. in Clinical and Health Psychology from MCP-Hahnemann University (now Drexel University) in Philadelphia, PA. I spent my internship year at the Veteran’s Hospital in Reno, NV and then spent 3 years as a postdoctoral fellow at University of California San Francisco. I taught at Cal State East Bay and Santa Clara University prior to coming to University of the Pacific.

In addition to being a professor, I enjoy spending time with family and friends and my dog Murphy. I enjoy bicycling, hiking, reading and watching Scrubs, the Office, the Daily Show and the Colbert Report. Oh—and I absolutely love Halloween—it’s my favorite holiday.