28: Tera D. Letzring, PhD – Professor of Psychology and Department Chair at Idaho State University Recalls Her Academic and Professional Journey

Masters in Psychology Podcast

When asked what made her gravitate towards psychology, Dr. Tera D. Letzring responded “I think I’ve just always been interested in people and trying to figure out why they do the things they do, why they feel the way that they feel in various situations and, you know, psychology is a little bit of insight into that. And I think it’s also interesting that, oftentimes, in addition to trying to figure out other people, we’re also trying to figure out ourselves.” In this podcast, Dr. Letzring recalls her academic and professional journey from graduate student to professor of psychology and, more recently, Department Chair. Along the way, she shares practical and insightful suggestions to those interested in the field of psychology. Dr. Letzring grew up in Oregon, went to college in Washington, spent a year in Texas, attended graduate school in California, got married while she was in graduate school, and then found her first academic position in Idaho. Dr. Letzring is currently Professor of Psychology and Department Chair at Idaho State University. She has been at ISU since she graduated with her PhD in Psychology from the University of California – Riverside in 2005. She is the Director of the Personality Judgment Lab at ISU and is serving on the publications committee for the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP). She has served as Director of Experimental Training and has received the Idaho State University Outstanding Researcher Award. She also served as an Associate Editor for the Journal of Research in Personality. In this podcast, Dr. Letzring discusses her graduate program application process and recalls that she applied to 12 graduate programs and was accepted into 3 of them. She remembers visiting 2 of them and felt the fit with the faculty was better at Riverside. She said, “sometimes your choices get narrowed down for you, so it’s good to apply to multiple places.” When discussing her job search experience after receiving her doctorate, she wanted to go somewhere where there was an emphasis on research, but she also wanted to teach. She wanted a balance of teaching and research, and Idaho State University gave her this opportunity. When talking about her newest challenge, serving as Department Chair of Psychology, she shared how the Council of Graduate Departments of Psychology (COGDOP) is a wonderful association which provides support for chairs and has been a very helpful resource. They have a yearly conference and provide a forum for discussion of education, training, and research while promoting the field of psychology. During our talk, Dr. Letzring provides wonderful advice to help students search and prepare for graduate programs. For example, she shares her thoughts on reaching out to faculty members, getting letters of recommendation, getting involved in research, and working in a research lab. We discuss how more universities nowadays are looking for someone who has postdoc (postdoctoral) experience than they have in the past and she identifies some of the advantages of doing a postdoc before you try to apply for an assistant professor position. Dr. Letzring likes staying active and believes in a healthy work-life balance but admits it is sometimes difficult to maintain this balance. She likes spending time with her family, back country hiking (she lives pretty close to the Tetons) and loves whale watching. Connect with Dr. Tera Letzring: LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook | Faculty PageConnect with the Show: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn https://vimeo.com/720164984 Interests and Specializations Dr. Tera Letzring’s research interests include the accuracy of personality assessment and personality judgment by examining the behaviors and characteristics of people who are good judges of personality, identifying the types of situations that may lead to accurate judgment, and the different kinds of information that lead to accurate judgment. Education