Tell me about yourself: Where are you from, what degrees do you hold and from which universities? “I’m originally from Colorado. I hold three postsecondary degrees, all in psychology. My first degree was from Northern Arizona University, it’s just in general psychology. Then, I earned my Master’s of Science in experimental psychology from Idaho State University and my Ph.D. in developmental psychology from Arizona State University.”
What made you pursue teaching? “I have always wanted to teach. I love children and I love learning, myself. So, for me, I wanted to study how children think. That’s what I do, I’m a cognitive developmental psychologist, but I also wanted to teach about what I learned–about how children think and process information. The kind of work that I do out at the Center for Bilingual Studies, as the associate director, is to understand how children think, feel, reason and how their understanding of thinking can be related to academic success, and how their cultural wealth and their linguistics assets can play a huge and significant role in advancing them. I want to make a difference in children’s lives and I love teaching my students the research findings, because I am just a curious learner myself and I want to instill that in my students and, hopefully, they gain that from me just by my own enthusiasm for it, but also because I think that if I can inspire this next generation to ask these kinds of questions, then we can continue to make a positive impact in our communities.”
What brought you to UTRGV? “My research that I study is Mexican-American families and cultural factors and linguistic factors that affect development. So, I came here because there are quite a lot of Mexican-American families to study and I wanted my children to have a greater sense of their own identity and their own heritage. In terms of my identity, my father is Mexican-American and my grandparents only spoke Spanish when I was a child, and we celebrated a lot of the traditions of Mexican families. I didn’t know that they were specifically Mexican; I thought everybody ate tamales during Christmastime. So, I wanted my children to be more in touch with that side of their heritage and to learn Spanish, because I am a big advocate of bilingualism, and just to help them be more globally prepared. I wanted to think about where I wanted to raise my children and the Valley is an excellent community for that.”
As an associate professor, what are your duties? “I do research and I teach a directed research course that’s mostly focused on getting undergraduate students involved in community-engaged research. A big part of what I do is not only to study the children in our community and the families, but also to learn from them and to use the community as a resource to help educate our students here. It’s bidirectional and so, we are giving back and learning from them in many ways. I do teach the directed research course with that framework in mind. I also teach a graduate-level Life-span Developmental course that also has a service-learning component. It encourages my students to take what they have learned in the course and interact with the community and learn from them, so that they can present and reflect on their findings in a meaningful way to further their knowledge.”
What classes do you teach? “I teach Directed Research at the undergraduate level and Life-span Developmental Psychology. Sometimes, I teach Child Development and I have also taught Research Methods and Social Behavioral Sciences from time to time.”
How can students reach you? “The best way is to email me at amy.weimer@utrgv.edu.”
What was the last book you read and what are some of the songs on your music playlist? “I’m currently reading ‘Great Minds and How to Grow Them’ by Deborah Eyre and Wendy Berliner. My chair gave it to me and we are working on a grant together, and this would be really great material to try to get some funding to help some students in impoverished areas get some experience here on campus. For my playlist, I actually love music quite a lot. I’m really into Young the Giant, Cage the Elephant, Arctic Monkeys and The Strokes.”
What do you like to do for fun? “If I can, I love to go hiking and be in nature as much as possible. I like to run. The Valley has just gorgeous weather for being outside, except during the summer when it gets too hot. There are also some fantastic places to explore just outside of Austin and San Antonio. To the extent that I can be outside, I like being outside, and going to the beach.”
–Compiled by Lesley Robles
