Tell us a little more about your history with George Mason University.
I was hired at Mason seven years ago when the Psychology Department wanted to begin offering a minor/concentration in forensic psychology. The Psychology Department was kind enough to allow me the flexibility to be creative, and to make mistakes, something for which I am incredibly grateful.
You recently lent your expertise in a story for the Denver Post. Tell us more about that.
Regardless of whether I get a call from someone in the media, or from an attorney looking to retain me as an expert, the cases share two things in common: 1) Something tragic has happened and; 2) People disagree with respect to who is responsible. The complexities of any case, including the recent case in Colorado, are beyond the scope of our discussion and likely more tragic than anything people want included in their daily life. So, I would direct any people still interested to the newspaper article for a better understanding of the full story.
In addition to teaching psychology at the undergraduate level, you also work as a forensic psychologist. What led you to your current career path?
That is a long story... but the short version is that my career in forensic psychology is the combination of two different factors. First, I find the field of psychology to be endlessly fascinating. People are interesting and complicated and attempting to explain even the most (seemingly) mundane aspects of human behavior can be compelling. Second, I tend to get bored very quickly with tasks that are repetitive and/or lack intensity or pressure. The type of work I do generally involves diving deeply into something intense and tragic while attempting to answer a specific psycho-legal question. Once the question is answered, another case comes long. So, my career just seems to agree with my interests and personality.
Tell us about the focus of your work and research.
Much of my expert testimony focuses on law enforcement officer’s ability to de-escalate crises in the field, particularly with individuals experiencing mental health crises… something called the Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) model. However, I also have done work involving interrogations and false confessions, insurance fraud, the experiences of victims of crime, and issues related to national security. Since I focus mainly on teaching at Mason, I’m not involved in a lot of research, but what I have done involves police/citizen interactions and the CIT model.
Before teaching at the college level, you trained and worked as a psychologist at several maximum-security mental hospitals and a county jail. How did these experiences influence your pedagogical approach as a psychology professor?
When a student asks a question in one of my classes, there is a good chance my initial answer will be, “it’s complicated.” That is because the practice of forensic psychology, and for that matter, the criminal justice system in general, can be messy. The information provided can be unclear, contradictory, and/or inadequate and yet, very difficult decisions still need to be made. Embracing that difficulty in the classroom is important and examining real cases (with real consequences) from my professional work can help make (seemingly) dull academic concepts far more relevant and interesting.
What is your biggest advice to psychology students in CHSS?
Psychology is a broad field with many different options. Find something in the field that interests you… then go get some experience. You can’t know if a career is right for you without getting your hands dirty. Also, experience does not need to be in the form of an internship. You should be paid for your effort.
What are your hobbies outside of your work at Mason?
Music is, and has always been, a big part of my life… Prior to my career in psychology, I used to work in a recording studio and I was a music teacher. I try, with varying levels of success, to play music every day. I also find the process of building anything extremely fun and rewarding… I built all the furniture in my office at Mason.
How would your students describe you?
That is going to depend on who you ask.