James Madison University Wordmark

Department of Psychology

Eastern Conference on the Teaching of Psychology
June 18 and 19, 2010

“The Art and Science of Teaching”

ETOP Logo

The Department of Psychology at James Madison University will host the next Eastern Conference on the Teaching of Psychology (ETOP) on Friday, June 18 and Saturday, June 19, 2010. The conference will be held at the historic Stonewall Jackson Hotel and Conference Center in Staunton, Virginia. The conference will offer concurrent symposia and workshops, a poster session, and two invited addresses on issues related to the teaching of psychology. Our target audience includes teachers from high school, 2-year, 4-year college/university, and graduate school settings.

We’ve lined up two outstanding keynote speakers this year:

Charles Brewer

  • After teaching at The College of Wooster and Elmira College, Charles came to Furman University in 1967 and was named the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Psychology in 1998. Charles has received many awards, including the American Psychological Foundation’s (APF) Distinguished Teaching Award in 1989 and the American Psychological Association’s (APA) Distinguished Career Contributions to Education and Training Award in 1995. In 2003, the APF named its Distinguished Teaching Award in honor of Charles. He received an APA presidential citation in 2005 “as one of our discipline’s most esteemed colleagues.” In 2008, he received the APA’s Raymond D. Fowler Award for his “exemplary contributions to teaching, the APA, and the discipline of psychology.” The Society for the Teaching of Psychology honored him with a presidential citation in 2009. After 50 years in the classroom, Charles hopes that his students are as eager to learn as he is to teach.

Dana Dunn.

  • Dana S. Dunn earned his B.A. in psychology from Carnegie Mellon University and received his Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of Virginia. Former chair of the psychology department at Moravian College in Bethlehem, PA, he is currently professor of psychology and director of the Learning in Common Curriculum there. A Fellow of the American Psychological Association, Dunn will serve as President of the Society for the Teaching of Psychology in 2010. He frequently speaks at national and regional disciplinary conferences. Dunn has written numerous articles, chapters, and book reviews concerning his areas of research interest: the teaching of psychology, social psychology, and rehabilitation psychology. He is the author or editor of many books, including Research Methods for Social Psychology, The Practical Researcher: A Student Guide to Conducting Psychological Research, A Short Guide to Writing about Psychology, and (with Weiten, Lloyd, & Hammer) Psychology Applied to Modern Life: Adjustment in the 21st Century.

Conference Details

More details about the conference will be available this Fall. We’ll send out the Call for Proposals in October. Online registration will being in early 2010. Click here for the tentative conference schedule: 

View the Tentative Conference Schedule

Lodging and Travel Information

The conference will be at the Stonewall Jackson Hotel and Conference Center in Staunton, Virginia, located at the crossroads of I-64 and I-81. Rooms are available on Thursday and Friday night at a special conference rate of $88/night plus tax. Reservations can be made by calling 540-885-4848 or 1-866-880-0024 (toll free). Be sure to mention ETOP to receive the conference rate. The hotel often sells out of rooms, so make your reservations early!

If you plan to drive, directions can be found on the hotel website.

If you plan to fly, the closest airport is the Shenandoah Valley Regional Airport (approximately 15 miles from the hotel). The airport offers a shuttle to and from the hotel for a rate of $35, round trip. Reservations for the shuttle must be made 24 hours in advance. You can make reservations by calling 540-234-8304.

It would likely be cheaper to fly into one of the following airports:

  • Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport, 45 miles from the hotel
  • Roanoke Regional Airport, 86 miles from the hotel
  • Richmond International Airport, 116 miles from hotel

However, there are no shuttles from these airports. Another option is to travel by train. Staunton is served by AMTRAK from both Philadelphia and Washington DC.

Conference Planning Committee

  • Craig Abrahamson
  • Suzanne Baker
  • Kenn Barron
  • David Daniel
  • Charles Harris
  • Jessica Irons
  • Natalie Lawrence, Chair
  • Bryan Saville