Paul Hennigan and Eric McCurdy have joined the KSC Psychology Department this year.
McCurdy, who previously worked at Smith College, expressed his desire to bring humor and enthusiasm to his classroom at Keene. A professional in counseling psychology, McCurdy works to help students feel valued and respected in class.
“I hope to bring a perspective that leaves them feeling heard.” McCurdy said in regards to his teaching style. “That communicates that an academic, somebody who is a professor or somebody who works in psychology, doesn’t have to be one kind of way. I think more and more of the upcoming generation of younger millennials who are professors are bringing some of that into how they approach things.”
McCurdy said he wants to help students in less fortunate situations, and practices being honest and forward with those in his class. He also said he allows students to give him feedback about the way he teaches them and desires to create a safe working environment.
Hennigan expressed a similar sentiment to McCurdy about teaching his students.
“I specifically chose to come here because the students remind me of myself.” Hennigan said. “I see a lot of students working full time jobs, when they’re an undergrad, just like I was. I know how hard that is and a lot of the demographics of the students here, like the socioeconomic status levels, are about the same as mine was when I was an undergrad.”
“Just seeing that, and knowing how hard that was for me, I just want to pay it forward. I want to take my experiences, cause I’ve gone through that whole gauntlet to get to the other side, and I want to guide the next generation of students to do the same.”
McCurdy and Hennigan stepped in for the two past professors who retired, Steve Clark and Donna Viveiros, and have been working hard since they arrived.
“It’s been great.” Susan Menees, the Department Chair, said in regards to having the new faculty on board. “So we thought we were only gonna get one person, but we ended up getting two. And two really fantastic people, so we’re really excited to have both of them on board. I think they’ve already been a good asset to their department. Very eager. I think of it as breathing room, a breath of fresh air into the department.”
Chloe Erno can be contacted at
cerno@kscequinox.com
