EMESE ILYÉS

As a scholar of moral exclusion, disability justice, and critical psychology, I aim for my teaching to point toward an interdisciplinary and personally reflexive approach to knowledge, while maintaining a strong grounding in the discipline of psychology. My undergraduate and graduate training emphasized the importance of moving between disciplinary paradigms to utilize theoretical tools and methodological approaches appropriate to the topic under study. Closely linked to an interdisciplinary focus in teaching and research is a philosophical investment in personal reflexivity and a collaborative approach to learning among faculty and students. Taking on the role of a researcher, be it as a student or as a scholar, means questioning and contextualizing knowledge presented to us, while also remaining conscious of our own positions.

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In my classrooms, I aim to create a dynamic learning environment. My extensive experience teaching undergraduate students, both it in large lecture or small seminar settings, gave me the opportunity to present the discipline of psychology as a set of lenses with which to see the social world. For me, a key part of that opportunity comes to life in the context of collaborative, personal interactions in which together, teacher and students situate ourselves within a wider landscape structured in various kinds of inequality. An emphasis on personal reflexivity and interdisciplinarity in psychology sparks significant shifts in thinking among undergraduate students, and I have seen these shifts take place in the all the courses I have taught.