Distinguished Teaching Fellow 2023-2026

Dr. Lisa Beck is an Assistant Professor and Licensed Clinical Psychologist in the Department of Psychology at The University of Alabama. She also serves as the Director for Undergraduate Advising for Psychology as well as the Associate Director of Clinical Training for the Clinical Psychology doctoral program. After completing her degrees at Arkansas Tech University, Mississippi State University, and The University of Alabama, Dr. Beck worked as a Senior Staff Psychologist and the Safe Zone Coordinator at Virginia Commonwealth University Counseling Services.

Dr. Beck teaches a variety of courses including Statistics, Psychopathology, Professional Issues, Gender & Sexuality, Cultural Competency, and Clinical Practicum. Dr. Beck is passionate about conversations and work that allow us to reckon with our own sociocultural locations in order to better connect with one another and promote equity, accessibility, and justice. 

Teaching Philosophy

My undergraduate statistics professor once told me that I could learn more from my professors by sitting down and having a beer with them than I ever would in the classroom. While I do not hold class at local drinking establishments, I have restructured my idea of what it means to “learn” and what constitutes an “education” based on his advice. Although I have high expectations for my students and hold them responsible for their breadth and depth of learning, I believe the successful student is not just the one who receives high objective scores, but is also the student who leaves the class able to generalize the information they have learned to other areas of their life and to engage in more critical thinking and awareness. My approach to emphasizing generalizability, critical thinking, and awareness is to make material relatable and to approach pedagogy from a multiculturally informed and humble stance while remaining engaged with the students, the research, and my own willingness to evolve along with students in our learnings. My teaching philosophy has continued to expand on these core pedagogical values as I have delved further into writings on equitable teaching practices and epistemology. This has allowed me to approach teaching as an opportunity to co-curate learning space with students who also hold valuable knowledge from other academic exposures and their own lived experiences.