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| Professor Amirkhan Photo taken from csulb.edu |
As a psychology minor, I've experienced a good number of psychology professors at the university, of both the good and the not so decent. This semester I am enrolled in Psychology of Personality with Dr. Amirkhan, and can definitely say that he is one of the most enjoyable teachers I have ever had. Being the fun and easy-going type that he is, I thought it would be a fun idea to try to and get to know him a little better, and how he ended up where he is today.
Meeting with him during his office hours I quickly realized that he is just as easy to talk to as I had anticipated, and he was very open to sharing with me his background and thoughts.
Dr. Amirkhan is a professor of Psychology at California State University, Long Beach. He currently teaches Psychology of Personality and is planning on teaching Psychology Assessment next Fall.
Meeting with him during his office hours I quickly realized that he is just as easy to talk to as I had anticipated, and he was very open to sharing with me his background and thoughts.
Dr. Amirkhan is a professor of Psychology at California State University, Long Beach. He currently teaches Psychology of Personality and is planning on teaching Psychology Assessment next Fall.
Amirkhan obtained his bachelor's degree in Psychology at Reed College in Portland, Oregon and went on for his Master's degree in Experimental Psychology at California State University Northridge. From there he spent five years at UCLA where he worked as a teacher's assistant in clinical work and graduated with a degree in Personality Psychology in 1984.
The very same year that he graduated from UCLA, Dr. Amirkhan was hired at California State University, Long Beach as a professor of Psychology. He has been teaching at CSULB for 27 years now, and says that he cannot believe it has already been that long.
"I didn't always want to be a teacher," says Amirkhan. "My mother was an elementary school teacher and I remember at a very young age that I never liked the friends my mom would bring home, and never wanted to be one of them."
Amirkhan originally started out as an undergraduate wanting to become a child therapist. After doing two years of clinical work at Northridge however, he says that it was hard for him not to become too emotionally attached to the children.
It was after this one-on-one experience that he realized he would be better off among "bright, like-minded individuals", and that is how he turned to teaching.
Psychology major, Aimen Khouraki, is also enrolled in Amirkhan's Personality course and says he has had a very enjoyable time. "He's very enthusiastic about his work," he says. "Some teachers seem like they're only here on the side of other work and don't really care. I would definitely like to take him again."
Dr. Amirkhan says that he has loved the time he has spent teaching Psychology at Long Beach, and especially appreciates the diversity of age and ethnicity at the school. "It is one of the most diverse school's I have ever seen, and I truly enjoy teaching such a wide range of students."
