ADAM YOON JAE KIM, PH.D.
TEACHING PHILOSOPHY
Professors are catalysts for change
Over the last eight years, I have had the opportunity to teach and mentor hundreds of students – from those in their first years to those in their final semesters. I have taught first year experiences and writing-intensive courses, classes in Psychology and Asian American Studies, and classes that focus on diversity and culture. I strive to use each of these experiences as opportunities to support the growth and development of my students as individuals and as the next wave of socially engaged community members. As a critical race scholar and diversity scientist, I empower my students to fight for societal change and develop skills that will set them up to succeed beyond the classroom.
COURSE OVERVIEW
COR 1100: The Global Experience
Complicating the “Forever Family”: An interdisciplinary perspective on adoption
Fall 2023, Fall 2024
This first-year seminar examines personal and social responsibility in domestic and global contexts. In developing your own view of the world and its many peoples, societies, and environments, you will evaluate the complex relationships that may both promote and obstruct positive human interaction. The course emphasizes critical thinking, creativity, and ethical decision-making focused on contemporary and salient issues as informed by their historical contexts. The seminar is inquiry-based, writing intensive, and utilizes a variety of perspectives.
Dr. Kim's sections of COR 1100 use interdisciplinary scholarship from across the social sciences and humanities to examine adoption. We will draw on critical scholarship that highlights systems of power and questions the established "truths" of adoption (e.g., adoption as a win-win). Further, we will examine the ways in which belonging to a minoritized group impacts the ways in which adoption is experienced. Example topics include birth family, identity, and the economics of adoption.
PSYC 216 - RESEARCH METHODS IN DIVERSITY SCIENCE
Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2022
This course introduces students to the research methods important to conducting scientific inquiry into topics related to inequality, oppression, and disparities in life outcomes across a broad range of experiences of marginalization (e.g., gender, race, sexuality, and the experiences at the intersections of these domains). In the process of introducing research methods pertinent to diversity science, we also discuss foundational and contemporary research in diversity science.
PSY 2200: Social Psychology
Spring 2023, Spring 2024
Topics in social psychology explore how people think about, influence and relate to one another. Specific topics may include the self, interpersonal relationships, intergroup relations, aggression, altruism, attitude formation and persuasion, compliance, and conformity. The course also includes discussion of how social behavior is influenced by factors such as gender and culture.
In line with the Elon University Department of Psychology’s commitment to Diversity, Inclusion, and Racial Equity (DIRE initiative), this course will approach psychological research from a diversity science perspective.