Professional Bio

Alicia Drais-Parrillo, Ph.D., is a Teaching Professor whose primary areas of interest are interpersonal interactions, social development, and inclusive teaching pedagogy. She has been with Penn State since 2012 and teaches a variety of courses in psychology, including Introduction to Gender Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Personality, Interpersonal Relationships, Multicultural Psychology, and Social Psychology. In her own words, she approaches teaching as an artist approaches sculpting: the final outcome is as much a reflection of the artist’s talent as the properties of the medium. This metaphor is an attempt to say that she recognizes that students are diverse learners and collaborators in her courses. As a result, Dr. Drais-Parrillo uses a variety of teaching and assessment methods to engage students, and she relies on them as partners to enrich the content via their personal experiences and knowledge. In sum, she wants her students to look forward to class and enjoy learning. She strives to create a supportive environment and to make curiosity infectious, or at the very least, she hopes to hold students’ attention long enough to sneak psychology into their thoughts.