Michael Passer coordinates the introductory psychology program at the University of Washington, which enrols about 2,500 students per year, and also is the faculty coordinator of training for new teaching assistants (TAs). He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Rochester and his Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles, with a specialization in social psychology. Dr. Passer has been a faculty member at the University of Washington since 1977. A former Danforth Foundation Fellow and University of Washington Distinguished Teaching Award finalist, Dr. Passer has had a career-long love of teaching. Each academic year he teaches two introductory psychology classes and a required pre-major course in research methods. Dr. Passer also developed and teaches a graduate course on the Teaching of Psychology, which prepares students for careers in the college classroom, and has taught courses in social psychology and attribution theory. He has published more than 20 scientific articles and chapters, primarily in the areas of attribution, stress, and anxiety, and hastaught the introductory psychology course for more than15 years.

Ronald E. Smith is professor of psychology at the University of Washington, where he has served as Director of Clinical Psychology Training and Head of the Social Psychology and Personality area. He received his bachelor’s degree from Marquette University and his Ph.D. from Southern Illinois University, where he had dual specializations in clinical and physiological psychology. His major research interests are in anxiety, stress, and coping, and in performance enhancement research and intervention. Dr. Smith is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association. He received a Distinguished Alumnus Award from the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute for his contributions to the field of mental health. He has published more than 140 scientific articles and book chapters in his areas of interest and has authored or co-authored 21 books on introductory psychology, human performance enhancement, and personality, including Introduction to Personality: Toward an Integration, with Walter Mischel and Yuichi Shoda (Wiley, 2004). An award-winning teacher, he has more than 15 years of experience in teaching the introductory psychology course.

Mike Atkinson is an associate professor of psychology at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario. Atkinson received his B.Sc. from Dalhousie University in 1975 and his M.Sc. (1978) and Ph.D. (1982) from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Atkinson’s training is in social psychology, but his research and teaching interests place him more in the field of educational psychology. “Dr. Mike,” as he is known to his students, has been featured in Maclean’s magazine, Media Television, and the Globe and Mail. He has also received numerous teaching awards, including the University of Western Ontario Professor of the Year award four times, as well as the Student’s Council/Alumni Western Teaching Award of Excellence. He has also received the 3M Canada Teaching Fellowship for his pioneering work in large-scale multimedia instruction, the “Superclass.”

John B. Mitchell, Department of Social Sciences, Brescia University College, University of Western Ontario, received his B.A. and M.A. from Queen’s University and his Ph.D. from Concordia University. Following completion of his Ph.D., Dr. Mitchell did post-doctoral research at the Douglas Hospital Research Centre in Montreal and at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Centre in Denver. Dr. Mitchell has taught Introduction to Psychology at Boston College, Brescia University College, and the University of Western Ontario in classes that have ranged in size from 50 to 500 students. He has also taught courses in behavioural neuroscience, psychopharmacology, memory, research methods, and, more recently, educational psychology. Dr. Mitchell has authored or co-authored research papers and book chapters on memory, the effects of early experience on the ability to recover from stress, and the neurobiology of motivation.

Darwin W. Muir is a professor of psychology at Queen’s University. He received his B.S. and M.Sc. from Eastern Michigan University and his Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from Dalhousie University. Dr. Muir has been in the Psychology Department at Queen’s University since 1974 where he has held an NSERC operating grant that supported the publication of approximately 90 journal articles and book chapters on topics ranging from the study of concept formation in pigeons, the visual acuity of visually deprived cats, and social learning in snails to human fetal, neonatal, and infant sensitivity to tactile, auditory, and visual stimulation. Recently he has been studying the role played by adult auditory, visual, and tactile stimulation in the regulation of infant affect and attention during face-to-face interactions. He is married with three daughters and three grandsons. Dr. Muir is Fellow of the Canadian Psychological Association and a member of the International Society for Infant Studies, the Society for Research on Child Development, the American Psychological Society, and the Canadian Society for Brain, Behaviour & Cognitive Science