Email:
alexbswan[at]gmail.com
aswan[at]eureka.edu
cinemapsychpod[at]gmail.com
Office:
Burgess Hall 106B (corner office)
Address:
Social Science and Business Division
Eureka College
300 East College Ave
Eureka, IL 61530
Links & Socials:
https://linktr.ee/alexbswan
If you’re interested in meeting with me in-person at my office or a virtual meeting through MS Teams or Zoom, click on the image/link below to see when I am available.
Alexander Swan Book an Appointment
A little more about my journey…
I grew up in Los Angeles, CA. After two years at Los Angeles Valley College (a community college), I transferred to California State University, Northridge (CSUN), where I completed my bachelor’s degree in Psychology in 2008. I graduated summa cum laude, but that was pretty much all I had going for me. Looking back, a lesson I learned in graduate school was that an undergraduate in Psychology needs to develop research skills and faculty relationships as soon as possible–so if you’re an undergraduate and reading this, make sure you’ve done this or plan it now!
After a year of figuring out what I wanted to do with my career, I decided to enroll in CSUN’s MA in Experimental Psychology program. I developed a very early working relationship with Dr. Abraham Rutchick, eventually talking him into being my thesis advisor and letting me do some reasoning research on top of it. I was his lab coordinator for my second year in the program and I am still his webmaster; we are still good friends and he is someone I definitely seek for advice. I graduated with my MA in 2011.
In the summer of 2011, I moved to Santa Barbara and began the Ph.D. program in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). My advisor was Dr. Russell Revlin, a reasoning researcher who has studied human reasoning for more than 40 years. In addition to my research program, I was able to strengthen my teaching skills through various programs that culminated in a teaching portfolio and an awarding of the Certificate in College and Undergraduate Teaching (CCUT). Research methods and statistics is an academic passion of mine, and so I have an interdisciplinary degree emphasis in quantitative methods (Quantitative Methods in Social Sciences, QMSS).
Some personal tidbits…
I’ve been married to the love of my life, Astrid, since 2010. Our son, Oliver, was born in 2014. We welcomed our daughter, Elliot, on Thanksgiving Day 2016. I talk about these people a lot in my teaching, especially the kids!
I enjoy watching movies/TV (like A LOT) and spending time with my family and friends.
My side hobbies include all things gadgets, playing/watching strategy/city-building games, webmastering and tinkering with websites, podcasting and creating multimedia, and lifehacking.