A colleague shared with me that her nephew would be coming to town, that he is a forensic psychologist, and that I could ask him to come speak to our psychology classes. After introductions, I offered the following suggestions:
We figure there are several topics that you can talk to the students about. First, as I mentioned earlier, most are graduating seniors, heading off to college, and they’re curious & nervous about that whole process. They’d welcome advice from someone who’s regularly on a college campus about teaching & learning in college, and all things “student life.” Second, more than half of the students have been to San Quentin State Prison with their Criminal Justice class, and they’re quite interested in rehabilitation, recidivism, assessing competence to stand trial — and generally all things mens rea. Third, they really do like psychology; they’re fascinated by it, and would welcome hearing about your academic and career path, your lab, your research focus, and what excites you about psychology.
He spoke to one section of Social-Cognitive Psychology and one section of Behavioral Neuropsychology. And he was great! He had great insight into life and learning in a large college, like ASU where he did his undergraduate or NAU where he did his graduate studies. His stories around forensic psychology were interesting and entirely appropriate for adolescents. And his remarks on psychology in general were illuminating and inspiring.