Sarah has a Ph.D. in cognitive neuroscience and thinks of herself as a teacher-scholar. She is a Professor of Psychology at Parkland College where she has also taught First Year Experience courses to undergraduates. Sarah conducts action research in her classroom to help improve students' abilities to pay attention, remember, and learn material, as well as improve their study skills. Sarah is the advisor of two psychology clubs at Parkland, the Psychology Club and the Parkland chapter of Psi Beta, which is the national honor society in psychology for community college students. Sarah is a Champion for the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, where she provides workshops and discussion groups about the skills students need to succeed in college and where she also helps teachers develop evidence-based teaching skills. Sarah puts psychology into practice when writing introductory psychology textbooks, creating evidence-based instructors’ resources, writing articles and book chapters about the cognitive science of teaching and learning, and giving presentations on this topic at national conferences and colleges. She is a member of the American Psychological Association (Divisions 3 and 15); the Society for the Teaching of Psychology; the Association for Psychological Science; the International Mind, Brain, and Education Society; the American Educational Research Association; the American Association of Community Colleges; and the Illinois Community College Faculty Association. Sarah and her husband are parents to four teenagers (plus three cats and a dog), so they use psychology in their lives every day. 

Parkland College

2400 West Bradley Avenue

Champaign, Illinois 61821

217-353-2047