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Assistant Professor - Psychology

"My job is part author, researcher and mentor. As a tenure-track professor in psychology, I publish actively in both peer-reviewed (e.g. journals) and non-peer reviewed forums. I recently published my first textbook for use in cognitive psychology classes. As a researcher, I am currently studying the impact of how we process language for job-specific skill development in technical fields. I am a mentor to my students. I teach both entry-level and senior-level psychology courses and am rewarded by the transformation of students during their time at my university. My job is less about teaching and more about inspiring and supporting student success."

Salary Range:

$70,000 - $130,000

The Tip

Be focused, but always be prepared to pivot when the opportunity arises.

Priority Knowledge & Skills
Advanced Research & Analysis Skills

  • Critically analyze literature

  • Formulate research questions

  • Develop and execute qualitative research

  • Synthesize key themes from multiple sources

 

Contextual Knowledge

  • Knowledge of human behaviour

  • Understand the ethical implications of a research question

  • Synthesize key themes from multiple sources
     

Knowledge of Human Behaviour

  • Able to relate to a wide range of individuals

  • Support students to explore motivations, behaviour, emotions, thoughts and patterns of thinking in classroom settings

  • Guide exploration of difficult topics

Sensitivity to how behaviours are shaped by circumstances, privilege, experience & attitudes

Advanced Communication Skills

  • Sensitivity to how communication is shaped by circumstances, authorship and intended audience

  • Formulate and defend positions

 

Inter-personal Skills

  • Work with diverse populations

  • Support individuals to discuss difficult topics

  • Empathetic to student stress

 

Intra-personal Skills

  • Able to manage stress

  • Self-aware and able to manage biases that may occur when working with diverse students

 

Additional Skills

  • Strong organizational skills

  • Intentional curiosity and thoughtful creativity

Expertise in a specific area of research including the completion of a Ph.D.

Building Block Experiences
Education & Learning:

  • Bachelor of Arts (Psychology–Honours)

  • Master of Arts (Psychology)

  • Ph.D. (Psychology)

  • Post-Doctoral Fellow (Psychology)

 

I spent a full decade in university. There were lots of highs and lows, but a Ph.D. is about discipline, focus and commitment. There is a reason why only 50% of those who start their Ph.D. actually complete it.

 

Employment Experiences:

  • Was a tutor during my undergraduate degree

  • Had progressively senior editor roles in our Psychology Student Society

  • Was a research assistant for my Honours supervisor in my final undergrad year

  • Worked for two summers as a communications coordinator for a nonprofit agency

  • During my Master’s and Ph.D., I taught undergraduate courses and was a teaching assistant

  • Visiting professorship in France

  • Current role is a tenure-track assistant professor of psychology at a comprehensive university

 

Being a university professor is highly competitive. Many faculty today are only part time or contract. I knew early on I wanted to be a university professor and focused my academic and professional mission on achieving this. It required demonstrating research, publishing and educational expertise. I needed to be flexible early in my career and ultimately it paid off with a coveted tenure-track appointment.

 

Community Experiences:

  • I volunteered on a crisis support hotline in my community. I took on several late shifts each month. The training was outstanding, and I learned a great deal about working with people in crisis.

  • I volunteered as an assistant at a local school for visually impaired children. This volunteer role sparked my interest in understanding how vision works and how developments in technology can aide visual abilities.

 

I teach regular workshops for a wide range of ages on all topics related to cognition and sensory processing. This includes: how 3D technology, virtual reality and artificial visual systems integrated with, and are processed by, the brain.

 

Contextual Experiences:

  • My mother is a medical doctor. For as long as I can remember, I wanted to conduct research about the human condition.

  • During my undergraduate degree, I presented a poster at a conference and co-authored a peer-reviewed study with my honours supervisor

  • I did a 12-month visiting professorship in France, where I mentored as a senior scholar in my field via a Post-Doctoral Fellowship from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research

 

Being a university professor is about tapping into my experience as an author, researcher and educator to tell my professional story. Leveraging this flexibility to create unique worth makes me valuable to different audiences.

 

Relationships:

  • To succeed as a professor, your network is critical. My professional network includes educators, authors, publishers and former students.

 

My network is very important to me. I lean on it every day for inspiration and offer the same to my connections. Being an author can sometimes be isolating, so having a community to support you through the inevitable writer’s block is essential.

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