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Class in the Spotlight
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Professor stresses self-awareness
 Photo by Dane Sponberg Trina Brown encourages students to apply what they learn in her psychology courses to their art and design pursuits. By Monique Bos Published: Friday, September 21, 2007  Trina Brown, Ph.D., said she is excited about a new course she plans to teach at the Savannah College of Art and Design-Atlanta in Winter 2008. “It’s called a Psychology of Self,” said Brown, who also teaches Introduction to Psychology at the college. “Basically, what the course entails is extensive self-evaluation and looking at the self in relation to others. For the major project, each student is going to write a memoir. I think it would be very beneficial [to them because] it’s an integration of psychology and art.” That project also ties into Brown’s own research area. “My background is memory research and autobiographical memory,” she explained. She earned an undergraduate degree from Spelman College and then earned her master’s degree and Ph.D. in Emory University’s cognitive and developmental psychology program. As a graduate student, Brown taught special education classes in the Atlanta public school system for five years, then taught at Spelman for two years before joining the faculty at SCAD-Atlanta. “I absolutely love it here,” she said. “The college’s environment and the class size are just really intimate. I think it’s ideal for my particular area.” She said students’ favorite project in her introductory classes stems from a dream journal she assigns. “I have them record their dreams and pick out one they like the most, convert it into a children’s story and produce a children’s book,” she explained. “It gives them an opportunity to integrate any area of the arts. For example, I had a fashion student who created a quilt, and each panel was a part of the story. They really get into it.” Brown also gives daily assignments that encourage students to assimilate their art and design practices with their psychology lessons. For each reading in their textbook, they write brief responses explaining how the material applies to them, both as individuals and as artists. “A lot of ideas come from that … Students always give me wonderful ideas,” she said. “I require that they integrate what they’re studying; they’re responsible for telling me how it relates.” In addition to teaching, Brown serves as faculty adviser to the SCAD-Atlanta Body and Brain Club, a student group started by sophomore illustration major Katherine Potter. “She introduced it to me because she thought I might be interested,” Brown explained. “It’s kind of like martial arts, but it really gets into relaxation and stress release. I’ve actually had my classes attend a few sessions around midterm.” And she’s working with SCAD-Atlanta’s counseling and student support services staff to produce workshops throughout the quarter. Planned topics include time management, stress and sleep strategies. “I’m looking to expand it and bring in some guest lecturers as well,” she said. “I have a psychologist/therapist friend who comes into class as a guest speaker every quarter. Her talk primarily relates to depression — warning signs, different strategies to relieve stress, self-awareness but also awareness in terms of friends and family. She’ll be speaking at one of the workshops.” Brown also is organizing a panel of alumni to speak at SCAD-Atlanta each quarter. “The basic idea is just to give students in all areas a chance to hear from alumni in terms of job opportunities and what happens when you leave SCAD,” she explained.  Brown plans to structure the Psychology of Self course and memoir around the students' textbook assignments. "Ideally, the students will pick up some key topics -- for example, the self in relation to to the family, love, wisdom, happiness [and] hope," she explained. "It's broken down into various topics, and they'll be able to do a lot of writing and have a lot of chances to edit their work throughout the quarter." "I'll have them write down their earliest memories," she said. "That will serve as a basis and maybe even an inspiration for the memoir." She added, "The subject matter is really what's key when it comes to writing ... I always encourage students to use the resources that they have." Introduction to Psychology will serve as a prerequisite to the course, and Brown said she'll explore some of the ideas from the introductory course in greater depth. Psychology of Self will fill an elective requirement for undergraduate students, she said.  |
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