APDC Course Development Grant Request–Project Narrative-Anaya Mitra

1 of 3

Applicant: Anaya Mitra Department: Psychology Course: Psychology of Eating Project Narrative 1. Purpose and/or goal of the curriculum development project. The purpose or goal of this project is to design a high-quality course. The outcomes or products of this course development will include: a syllabus, 3 major learning activities/assignments for the course, 2-4 in-class experimental demonstrations, a selection of journal articles which the students will read to supplement the text book, and selection of the textbook itself. I will be teaching this course in spring of 2017, and hope to work on designing the course over the summer and fall of 2016. 2. Significance and context of the project. By developing this course, I will have the opportunity to teach a sub-topic within Psychology in which I have considerable experience and knowledge. This course will benefit and enrich the academic experience of our students – both for within and outside of the Psychology Department. The Psychology department is trying to increase the number of electives it currently offers, and developing this course would support this departmental endeavor. In addition to being a possible elective, this course will be designed with a laboratory component, and thus will also increase the variety of lab courses the Psychology department has to offer. Finally, in line with the American Psychological Association guidelines (Aug 2013), this course successfully promotes the discipline of Psychology as a hub science, in that it integrates a variety of perspectives when discussing the issue of food and food intake. This class has already generated a good deal of excitement among students and faculty in other departments, such as Public Health, Nutrition and Exercise Science (the pre-requisites for the course are General Psychology and Statistics so most students in health-related majors will be able to take the course). 3. The work plan, including objectives, proposed outcomes, key tasks, resources and timeline. Description of the Course: This course will explore the psychological, cultural, environmental and biological factors that influence our eating behaviors. Topics that we will cover include the neurobiological regulation of energy intake and expenditure, how we regulate and fail to regulate our food intake, eating disorders (over and under-eating), issues of stress and comfort eating, the global obesity epidemic (and how it may look different in different socioeconomic settings), economic factors which influence who has access to what food, the influence of media on our food choice, and cultural norms and differences in our eating behaviors. Work completed to Date: I have created the course description (provided above) which my Chair (Dr. Jamie Peterson) submitted to the Registrar’s office. In addition to this, I have made

APDC Course Development Grant Request–Project Narrative-Anaya Mitra

2 of 3

(and continue to make) a short-list of documentaries, books, journal articles, news articles etc. that I will be carefully studying this summer; after which I will make my decisions about which of these texts/media texts will actually be included in my course. Objectives, proposed outcomes and key tasks: The outcomes or products of this course development will include: a syllabus, 3 major learning activities/assignments for the course, 24 in-class experimental demonstrations, a selection of journal articles which the students will read to supplement the text book, and selection of the textbook itself. I will be teaching this course in spring of 2017, and hope to work on designing the course over the summer and fall of 2016. Finally, I plan to connect with Katherine Daniels (Director of the Catherine G. Murphy Gallery on campus) and see if the Gallery might be interested in having an exhibition on “What the World Eats” (during the Spring of 2017). This is an exhibition I visited at the Bell Museum, and would beautifully align with my course, but it would also be an eye-opening experience for many of our other students on campus as well. Resources and Timeline: I presently do not have any other resources in terms of funding for this course development project. I intend to begin this work in earnest in June of 2016. A tentative timeline is presented below: Month and Year April/May 2016

June-July 2016 July 2016 June-Aug 2016

Task Contact Director of Catherine G. Murphy Gallery to talk about the Bell Museum exhibit on “What the World Eats”. This exhibit will close at the Bell in May of 2016, so I was wondering if there might be an opportunity to showcase it at our gallery. This art exhibition examining the food eaten by families across the world would align beautifully with my course goals, and also be of interest to the general university community. Confirm selection of textbook, 1-2 documentaries and 4-8 journal articles to be used in the course. Create 3 major learning activities/assignments, 2-4 in-class activities to be used as demonstrations to enhance student learning outcomes Complete syllabus

4. Discussion about impact of project on teaching. By designing this course, I will be able to add another engaging laboratory course to the Psychology Department’s course offerings. It will also enable me to teach a topic that I am very passionate about, and for which I received graduate training in. I would find this opportunity very rewarding both professionally and personally. Furthermore, during the process of course development, I will naturally be doing some research on the most recent and cutting edge developments in the field. This will broaden my own knowledge base, and enrich my ability to better educate our students. 5. Discussion about impact of project on students. This is a topic that is seeing growing interest, as evidenced by the extensive number of news articles and documentaries related to food, eating and obesity. I believe that this subject matter will be of great interest to Psychology, Nutrition and Public Health majors. Developing a

APDC Course Development Grant Request–Project Narrative-Anaya Mitra

3 of 3

comprehensive understanding about the neurobiological, social and environmental factors which influence our decision to eat, overeat or under-eat, will hopefully inform their personal behaviors but also provide a deeper and broader perspective on how complex this decision making process is. As this course will have a lab component, students will benefit by gaining research experience. In addition to this, I will also encourage my students to present their work at internal (e.g. Sr. Seraphim Gibbons Undergraduate Symposium) and external (e.g. MUPC, Minnesota Undergraduate Psychology Conference) conferences, thus giving them research presentation experience as well. 6. Statement of how the project aligns with/supports the Liberal Arts goals. This course aligns with several of the Liberal Arts goals; critical and creative inquiry, disciplinebased competence, effective communication in a variety of modes, and (in the case of some students) purposeful life-long learning. Specifically, it fosters an environment where critical and creative inquiry is encouraged. Understanding the myriad factors which influence what we eat, why we eat and how much we eat is often an eye opening experience for students. Beyond that, I hope to impress upon students how ‘healthy choices’ are often influenced by factors other than the individual (genetics, environment, socioeconomic status, politics etc.) In my experience the discussions surrounding this topic typically stimulate critical inquiry, as students are fascinated by the idea that a choice/preference/behavior they have may be regulated not by their own ‘free will’, but possibly by an interaction of a variety of factors. The course as I am presently envisioning it, will require students to write papers on a topic of their choice, do a class presentation, and lead group discussions. These exercises will help develop their ability to be effective communicators in written and verbal modalities. Purposeful life-long learning is something that we hope to instill in all our students in all our classes, and it is my hope that my enthusiasm for this subject will light the spark of life-long learning for many of the students who take this course. 7. Statement of how the project fits into department plans and college priorities/strategic plan. The Psychology department has on-going plans to increase the laboratory course options that it currently offers; this course will be one of the laboratory options that students can choose from. With regards to the overall university’s priorities and strategic plans, one of the strategic directions that the University’s “2020 Vision-The Plan for St. Catherine University” plan outlines is curriculum development. By providing funding for this course, I will be able to work towards supporting the University’s 2020 plan by engaging in curriculum development. 8. Other past funding for the project and/or plans to pursue external funding. I have not received any previous funding for this course, and do not have any plans to pursue external funding. 9. Plans to disseminate my results. The results of this course development project will be disseminated in Spring of 2017, when I teach this course to students at St. Catherine University.