Carolyn Brown-Kramer joins faculty

Faculty member Carolyn Brown-Kramer, assistant professor of psychology, recently joined the psychology department at the professorial track. We got in touch with Carolyn to learn more about her.

Portrait of Carolyn Brown-Kramer
Carolyn Brown-Kramer

Where did you go to school?

I earned my BA in philosophy (and almost enough credits for a double-major in psychology) at Doane College in Crete, Nebraska in 2004. I went to graduate school here at UNL, earning my MA in 2007 before I moved to Illinois and dissertated from afar, completing my PhD in social psychology in 2009. Fun fact: Brian Bornstein, professor of psychology, was one of my graduate advisors.

What do you study?

My present research is in two areas: First, the scholarship of teaching and learning, in particular the effectiveness of teaching techniques such as flipping the classroom, increasing student autonomy, and what kinds of hands-on activities are most beneficial to students. Second, I conduct research on the role of affect in people’s choices to become politically active or not, engaging in behaviors such as attending rallies, talking to friends and family, spreading news on social media, etc.

What classes do you teach?

This fall, I taught the 420-student section of Introduction to Psychology and its associated Honors recitation, a small and lively section of Psychology of Social Behavior with students from the WH Thompson Scholars Program, and Advanced Social Psychology. This spring, I am again teaching Advanced Social Psychology as well as Motivation and Emotion—both of which are cross-listed 400/800 classes so I get to teach graduate students!—and I’m sitting in on the Career Planning for Psychology Majors course, which I will get to co-lead in the fall with those excellent and hard-working psychology advisors!

What other activities in the Department do you do?

I am the faculty sponsor for Psi Chi and the Undergraduate Psychology Organization, so feel free to send interested students my way.

What are some things that people may be surprised to learn about you?

Although I have terrible motion sickness, I have gone skydiving and will be doing a zero-G flight this summer to celebrate my 15th wedding anniversary. Also, I’m an avid reader (my favorite book genre is postapocalyptic teen fiction—think Hunger Games) and I’m always looking for recommendations.