DR. LESLIE ZORWICK, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF PSYCHOLOGY:
When i was thirteen, i went to my first debate tournament. My parents were both
debate coaches, and really I just wanted to see what they were doing on the weekend.
I didn't any intent debating, but at about two rounds in, a judge who told my partner
and I that we were being a little too assertive, and it didn't matter that that
two young men we were competing against were being as assertive, if not more so,
and the judge reminded us that women really couldn't get away with that in the same
way. So, I found that upsetting, but I was actually surprised that the person saying
it was a woman. I did not realize at the time, but i had, in that instant, fallen
in love with social psychology. So, when I took a class and realized there was a
way to study academically, you know, why people who belong to groups can still demonstrate
prejudice against people who belong to those groups. I thought, "Yeah. This is for
me. I need to know the answer to that question." So, I was excited there was a way
in school to find it.
When I went on the job market, I only looked at schools like Hendrix, because
I knew this was the kind of place I wanted to be, the kind of place that was really
committed to undergraduate education and teaching and where i could talk to people
about the kind of things that I was excited about in the classroom. It was something
that really excited me about, coming to Hendrix, where students were encouraged
to be so well-rounded, with the general education things they learn, with classes
like Journeys that really ask students to think in an interdisciplinary light. That
was something I really valued in my own education.
It's been really exciting, because my own research interests have been shaped
a bit by what my students have been so interested in. I've started doing a lot of
research, since I’ve been here, about stereotypes of Southerners, because it's something
that's very salient to our students when they think about moving to other regions
of the country or interviewing for jobs. Hendrix has this phenomenal reputation
in Arkansas, but how they're perceived as Southerners is something our students
think about. So, it's been really exciting to let some of their lived experience
help shape the things that we're doing.
I love that the biggest problem I have in my research lab is not finding great
students, it's not access to resources. It is scheduling my lab meetings, because
my students are so well-rounded. They have to go to choir practice or sports. I
mean, what a fantastic problem to have, that students are so engaged in their education
and can bring so much to the table through these other experiences that our biggest
problem is finding time when we can all meet. It’s a lovely problem to have.
I would say Odyssey was one of the single biggest reasons I chose to come to
Hendrix. This is the only liberal arts school I looked at that actually put their
money where their mouth was. So, I had to students approach me who i didn't know
that well , and they are really interested in sports fans, and so we started meeting
regularly and talking about identity and thinking about what it means to be sports
fan and how that might meet identity needs. These students got a several thousand
dollar grant to go interview people at the Cotton Bowl. So, after that, once I knew
what Odyssey could do, I sort of felt like the sky was the limit, and so, for the
next couple summers, I got grants to work with students over the summer to have
these really intensive research mentorships that even involved things like traveling
to other cities to conduct focus groups and as a result of one of those, I actually
got to publish a paper with an undergraduate student, which i think i don't think
we could have done without those resources. Whenever i have meetings prospective
students, i always tell them, “I know you've heard a lot of at Odyssey, but seriously,
that’s one of the reasons why I came here. I don't think you can really even
conceive of how many doors that can open, for things that your imagination can dream
up.”
I’m sorry they couldn’t be here today, but I have these two dogs I’m completely
bananas about. One of them is named Colby. He’s a corgi. The other one is named
Buster, and he’s a dachshund. Colby actually grew up on campus. We used to have
“puppy office hours” on Fridays. I would usually see thirty-five or forty students
on Fridays who would ostensibly come to say hi to the puppy and would end up talking
about life, or graduate school, or class. So, that was really neat. Usually every
semester, I’ll try to bring them once or twice, sometimes during finals so that
students can just swing by outside and say hi and get a little pet therapy. I like
that they’re the unofficial department mascots that our students know about, too.