Teaching Philosophy
Being an educator is a significant responsibility and an incredible opportunity to guide and support students as they grow personally and professionally. I have three primary goals as an educator:
- Inspire curiosity for learning about the world that extends beyond the classroom
- Cultivate critical thinking about complex social problems and enable students to think critically about how our experiences and perspectives are shaped by the intersection of gender, race, class, and other important social identities
- Enable students to apply new knowledge and skills to improve their lives and become engaged citizens in their communities
Teaching Activities
WAGES-Classroom
WAGES-Classroom is a board game and facilitated discussion that demonstrates how gender biases accumulate over time to negatively impact women in the workplace. The goal of WAGES-Classroom is to introduce students to core constructs regarding unconscious bias, social disparities, and intersectionality in a non-threatening way and to motivate action to address gender bias in everyday interactions and workplaces. You can download the game materials by clicking on the link above.
Using Debates to Foster Critical Thinking
Teaching about hot-button diversity topics such as gender can be challenging. Information that challenges students’ existing perspectives can provoke defensiveness and thwart learning goals. As a result, students may fail to critically evaluate their own perspectives and dismiss alternative perspectives. To overcome this challenge and foster critical thinking about issues related to gender, I implement a debate assignment in my Psychology of Gender course. The debate assignment gives students the opportunity to explore real-world social issues that are relevant to their lives and to examine these issues from multiple perspectives using scientific evidence. This assignment was selected for a Teaching Resource Prize from the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues in 2019. You can access the assignment instructions by clicking on the link above.
WAGES-Classroom is a board game and facilitated discussion that demonstrates how gender biases accumulate over time to negatively impact women in the workplace. The goal of WAGES-Classroom is to introduce students to core constructs regarding unconscious bias, social disparities, and intersectionality in a non-threatening way and to motivate action to address gender bias in everyday interactions and workplaces. You can download the game materials by clicking on the link above.
Using Debates to Foster Critical Thinking
Teaching about hot-button diversity topics such as gender can be challenging. Information that challenges students’ existing perspectives can provoke defensiveness and thwart learning goals. As a result, students may fail to critically evaluate their own perspectives and dismiss alternative perspectives. To overcome this challenge and foster critical thinking about issues related to gender, I implement a debate assignment in my Psychology of Gender course. The debate assignment gives students the opportunity to explore real-world social issues that are relevant to their lives and to examine these issues from multiple perspectives using scientific evidence. This assignment was selected for a Teaching Resource Prize from the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues in 2019. You can access the assignment instructions by clicking on the link above.
Current Courses
Psych 1100: General Psychology
Psych 4993: Psychology of Gender
Psych 4600: Social Psychology
Psych 5600: Advanced Social Psychology
Psych 4993: Psychology of Gender
Psych 4600: Social Psychology
Psych 5600: Advanced Social Psychology
Past Courses
Advanced Social Influence
Applied Social Psychology
Research Methods
Applied Social Psychology
Research Methods
Student Comments
“Professor Cundiff applied the terms we were learning to the world around us, and thus helped us not only to learn about social psychology in the classroom, but in the grand scheme of things.”
“Professor Cundiff is very well organized, clear, and knows the material very well. I really enjoyed the activities we did in class and the assignments we had throughout the semester. Both the activities and assignments were ways of connecting the material to things outside of the classroom which was both interesting and cool.”
“It was incredible the way Professor Cundiff structured this course. All the readings were very well organized and clear and intentionally chosen. I never felt like I was reading something just because she felt like assigning us more work. Everything had a purpose. Additionally, the activities were PHENOMENAL. I loved how they were different than your standard paper - they made you engage critically with the work and material but in a creative way which in turn enhances the critical engagement. I really really encourage other faculty to take up a similar method in their classes.”
“I feel as though this class has helped me grow both as a student and a person. I have never spent so much time outside of class thinking about the material learned in class or from the text. The material learned in class is directly applicable to both my life as well as the lives of those around me, and I feel that every student should take a course like this at some point in their college career. My personal growth in this class, my critical thinking skills, and the application of course material to the real world have been hugely impacted by this course”
“Professor Cundiff is a phenomenal professor. She is engaging, her teaching style is thought-provoking, and she fosters a classroom environment that facilitates discussion and therefore increases the impact of the subject material. Honestly, I don't have a single teaching weakness to talk about.”
“Cundiff is a great professor. The classes were always interesting, and I loved that I was able to learn from my peers through their class presentations.”
“Professor Cundiff did an amazing job of making concepts accessible, interesting, and relevant... my understanding and appreciation of the course subject has increased hugely as a result of taking this course.”
“Professor Cundiff is extremely caring when it comes to her students and is very passionate about what she teaches. She asked us for our direct feedback regarding the way in which the course was taught, about a third of the way into the semester which was helpful and effective.”
“Dr. Cundiff did a great job of presenting the material in a clear way and assigning articles that were effective in furthering the material we learned in class. She also chose studies and videos to present to us that were interesting and very effective. Overall, this was an interesting course and I enjoyed learning the material because it was presented in a way that kept me interested for the entire class time.”
“This course was extremely well organized, and the assignments and quizzes were straightforward. Also, the real-life examples that Professor Cundiff showed us helped to make the subject more interesting and applicable. She also taught the material extremely well, and overall improved my understanding of social psychology.”
“Professor Cundiff is extremely organized and clear about her expectations. She was very receptive and open to feedback from the class. She showed immense concern for the students."