Share Your Story

Whats Your Story?

Undergraduate psychology students would like to know how you use your Psychology major in your current field/job/career. Here's an opportunity to share your story with current undergraduate students.

Please use the following question template to share your story.

While you were at the University of Illinois:

  • How/why did you choose Psychology as a major?
  • What specific skills did you develop by taking Psychology courses?
  • Outside the classroom, what opportunities/experiences were most beneficial?
  • Did you believe that you “had to” obtain more schooling after your bachelor’s degree?
  • In retrospect, what would you have done differently as an undergraduate?

After graduating from Illinois:

  • If your bachelor’s degree was the highest degree you earned, describe the first job(s) you held.
  • If you continued more schooling after your bachelor’s degree, share your reasons.
  • Describe how you utilize your undergraduate Psychology skills in your current job/career.
  • What pearls of wisdom can you offer to current undergraduate students?

 

Feel free to cut/paste your responses and e-mail them (along with a picture if you like) to Ryan Leskis, Stewardship & Alumni Relations Coordinator rleskis@illinois.edu

Recent Stories:

  • Dr. Dohleman is currently the Director of Organizational Research at AbbVie in the Chicagoland area. We discussed how her career all started at a job fair here at UIUC! We travel through her career path and talk about her upcoming discussion about the workplace of the future.  During the "Fast...
  • Our first "townie" guest on Sixth & Daniel! Lisa Sullivan gives a unique perspective of her experience with the campus from a student, resident, and mother of a current attendee. We cover her journey back into the workforce after taking time off to raise a family. Showing how the skills...
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  • Paige Fox is an Attorney at Chuhak & Tecson who specializes in Elder Law. She is also an advocate, an ally, a fantasy football player, a beach bum, and a former bartender! These are just some of the layers we peel back about Paige during this episode covering her journey from our psych...
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  • To kick off the first episode of the department's Podcast, we welcome back Dr. Patricia Deldin!  Dr. Deldin is currently a Professor at the University of Michigan in the Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry. Before that, she was a professor, for 9 years, at Harvard University. She received her...
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  • How/why did you choose Psychology as a major? I chose Psychology as a major after taking a child psychology class and feeling enthralled with the whole concept of learning and development. My professor for this class was outstanding and I felt he represented the Department very well. So I declared...
  • My passionate interest in helping people live their lives to their fullest potential is what attracted me to psychology. My early training and experiences prepared me for career opportunities that I could scarcely have imagined as an undergraduate in college. Ultimately, I identified as a health...
  • Tynisa Gaines is an Enrolled Agent which is the highest license granted to a tax professional to represent clients before the IRS nationwide. In my private tax practice, even though clients are not literally on my couch, I use my psychology degree daily to organize the relevance of their personal...
  • How/why did you choose Psychology as a major? I have always been interested in human behavior, how the brain works, and what drives us to make the choices we make. What specific skills did you develop by taking Psychology courses? Studying psychology challenged me...
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  • How/why did you choose Psychology as a major? For as long as I can remember, I have been interested in human behavior and its neurologic and psychologic underpinnings. As I began to learn more, I became especially interested in the neurologic and psychologic underpinnings of...
  • I started at the University of Illinois Urbana/Champaign in 1975 with my major in Pre-Dental. The school dropped that as a major after my first year and put me into Biology. Unfortunately, being lumped together with all of the pre-medical and pre-dental students wasn’t my cup of tea. After one...
  • When I applied to the University of Illinois as a high school senior, I was planning to be a math teacher. Then a co-worker at the local fast food restaurant where I worked after school brought her psychology textbook along to work one evening, and I was hooked. My small rural high school didn’t...
  • How/why did you choose Psychology as a major? I chose Psychology because I wanted to be a therapist and was interested in human behavior. I graduated with a B.S. in Psychology Major, Music Minor, in 1974.  Did you believe that you had to obtain more schooling after your...
  • How/why did you choose Psychology as a major? I took a few psychology classes in high school and loved them. I knew that was the area I wanted to study after taking those courses. What specific skills did you develop by taking Psychology courses? Taking...
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