Alan C Tjeltveit Emeritus Faculty |
Education
Teaching Interests
I like teaching psychology because people fascinate me. I find odd and unusual behavior particularly interesting and I like talking with students about it. Furthermore, I think it’s very important to help people. And so I think the practical applications of psychology—in psychotherapy, in education and so forth—are very important. I like teaching psychology at Muhlenberg because the students are interesting, bright, hardworking, socially skilled and concerned about other people. I like teaching in a liberal arts college because the connections among disciplines fascinate me; recognizing and making those connections is what we are all about.
Research, Scholarship or Creative/Artistic Interests
Psychotherapy fascinates me and so I study it. I am a member of the Society for Psychotherapy Research, the Society for the Exploration of Psychotherapy Integration and the Division of Psychotherapy of the American Psychological Association.
My work with students addresses values, ethics, mental health, religion, spirituality and psychotherapy. At national and international meetings of professional associations, some of my students and I have presented research that we conducted together. Two students and I published an article exploring the relationships among mental health values (values relevant to good psychological functioning) and religious beliefs.
I am also interested in the ethical dimensions of psychology, including values and ethics in psychotherapy; professional ethics, including how psychologists can most effectively be educated to avoid ethical violations and to achieve ethical excellence; the connections among psychology and philosophy, and especially the subfield of theoretical and philosophical psychology; a variety of the many intersections among psychology and spirituality/religion; and the psychology of love of God and love of neighbor, including caring, compassion, volunteering, community service and grace.