Cerritos College News Release

Photo of Dr. Kimberley Duff with the award NORWALK, Calif. – March 25, 2009 – Cerritos College faculty member Dr. Kimberley Duff received the Society for Teaching of Psychology’s Wayne Weiten Excellence in Teaching Award. The Society for Teaching of Psychology is Division 2 of the American Psychological Association (APA).

An associate professor in Cerritos College’s psychology department since 1999, Dr. Duff teaches students Introductory Psychology, Research Methods and other psychology courses. She has mentored students in directed studies and through tutorial hours sponsored by the Academic Support Center, resulting in students presenting their research at regional conferences. She serves as co-advisor, with Dr. Todd Gaffaney, of the Psychology Club and the honor’s society Psi Beta, which has been recognized with four national awards in recent years.

Sponsored by the Society for the Teaching of Psychology, the Wayne Weiten Teaching Excellence Award recognizes an outstanding teacher at a two-year college annually.

Dr. Duff was selected based on nominations from colleagues and students, and her commitment and success in mentoring students in psychology. Several of her nominations came from faculty at local four-year universities that Cerritos College students successfully transfer to, where Dr. Duff has forged key relationships.

“I am honored to have been selected for this prestigious award,” said Dr. Duff. “When I received the award in Boston, it was a wonderful experience as I was accompanied by Todd Gaffaney and several Cerritos College psychology students and they were able to share in the recognition of their successes.”

While Dr. Duff wears many hats as Psychology Club and Psi Beta advisor, book reviewer for various publishers, managing editor for MyPsychLab and a multimedia website developer, to name a few, teaching and mentoring are always her passion above anything else.

Dr. Duff most recently developed a mentoring system called MAP (Mentoring through Alumni in Psychology). The MAP website is designed for students of psychology, in particular students interested in experimental psychology, and uses students as a resource. The website provides biographies of psychology alumni from the research methods course (Psychology 220) and provides current students a way to contact these former students to serve as mentors.

Although she encourages her students to interact and mentor each other, there is no mentor that is more passionate and supportive of the psychology students than Dr. Duff herself. She encourages her students and alumni to attend and present their research findings at national conferences, although most presenters at such conferences are graduate students. This has led to many former Cerritos College students continuing on in a career in psychology at the four-year university level and beyond.

“Thanks to Dr. Duff’s support, students realize that they are able to do outstanding research at a community college,” said Maria Cosio, Dr. Duff’s former student who now is her teaching assistant.

“We are very proud of Dr. Duff who is an exceptional teacher and mentor to our students,” congratulated Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences Division Francine De France. “She has made and will continue to make an enormous difference in many students’ lives.”

Cerritos College serves as a comprehensive community college for southeastern Los Angeles County. Communities within the college’s district include Artesia, Bellflower, Cerritos, Downey, Hawaiian Gardens, La Mirada, Norwalk, and portions of Bell Gardens, Lakewood, Long Beach, Santa Fe Springs and South Gate. Cerritos College offers degrees and certificates in more than 180 areas of study in nine divisions. Annually, more than 1,200 students successfully complete their course of studies, and enrollment currently surpasses 24,000 students. Visit Cerritos College online at www.cerritos.edu.

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Cerritos College

Releases 2009