Ashlyn Swartout

As a lecturer in the department, my primary responsibility is teaching undergraduate courses. I work hard to make my classrooms engaging, interesting, and challenging, while still offering students many opportunities to successfully master material. I want students to learn the content of the courses I teach, but I also want them to learn how to think. To that end, I challenge students with a variety of assignments including discussion, reflection, group work, individual work, quizzes, and traditional exams. I typically teach Advanced Research Design and Analysis (PSYC 3530/CTW), Psychology of Interpersonal Behavior (PSYC 3110), Introduction to Human Sexuality (PSYC 2070), and Social Psychology (PSYC 4020). I am also the co-coordinator of the Psychology Pipeline Project—a departmental effort to encourage the success of students who are interested in graduate study in psychology. Learn more about the Psychology Pipeline Project here: sites.gsu.edu/psy-pipeline/.

Although my primary focus is on teaching, I do maintain a small research agenda. My current focus is on the effect of action teaching efforts. Action teaching is teaching that not only conveys content, but that also strives to change students’ perceptions of the broader world, hopefully facilitating positive individual (and eventually social) change. My graduate studies and research expertise is in the area of interpersonal violence, specifically sexual assault. My research has examined risk factors for both sexual assault perpetration and victimization as well as factors that inhibit women’s disclosure of assault experiences. I am currently collecting and analyzing data on action teaching efforts around changing attitudes toward victims of sexual assault.