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“I can’t ever remember not wanting to be a teacher”


Last updated March 28, 2018

By Tina Underwood

For a generation of psychology faculty, the name Charles Brewer has been synonymous with the teaching of psychology. After receiving a his Ph.D. at the University of Arkansas, Brewer taught briefly at Elmira College and The College of Wooster before joining the Furman University faculty in 1967. The 86-year-old Brewer is now Professor Emeritus at the university. Known for his “Brewerisms” and passion for doing whatever it takes to inspire students, Brewer spoke to “PsychSessions podcast series hosts Garth Neufeld and Eric Landrum in February 2018. The series is sponsored by the Society for the Teaching of Psychology (STP). Guest hosting the program, which was taped from Brewer’s assisted living facility, was Furman’s own John Batson, former Brewer student, and now colleague and friend.

Brewer received Furman’s first Meritorious Teaching Award in 1969, and a few years later became president of the STP. Charles became an authority on the life and work of John Broadus Watson (an 1899 Furman graduate), and Brewer’s 12-year term as editor of the Teaching of Psychology journal established him as both mentor and demanding critic for his colleagues in their writing efforts, according to the STP website. The introduction to the podcast also cites a book chapter written by Furman psychology professors Batson and Gilles Einstein, “‘I can’t ever remember not wanting to be a teacher’: A brief Biography of Charles L. Brewer.”

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