A Conversation With...
Dr. Mark Hartlaub

Q: Where did you grow up and how did you get here, (A&M-CC)?

A: I grew up in Denver, Colorado. My family vacationed in Port Aransas, Texas from the time I was age 8 years old until I was 18 years old. I always liked Corpus Christi and the surrounding area. I graduated from high school in Denver, Colorado. I received a B.A. in Psychology from The University of Denver, an M.A. in Social Psychology from the University of Connecticut and a Ph.D. in Social/Personality Psychology from the University at Albany, State University of New York. I've been married for 19 years and have three children ages 11, 13, and 15. While I was applying for jobs in graduate school, a friend of mine told me about the opening here at Texas A & M University-Corpus Christi. I applied and got the job. This is my seventh year at TAMU-CC.

Q: What motivates you and has helped you become who you are today?

A: I enjoy teaching very much! I think people are extremely interesting. In courses like Chemistry, where you take chemical A and mix it with chemical B, you always come out with compound C; and I admit there is something nice about that predictability. But that predictability is also a bit boring to me. In psychology, we don't have predictability or absolutes like that. For example, if a child has two alcoholic parents, it's likely he or she will become an alcoholic, but by no means is it a certainty. Likewise, if neither of a child's parents are alcoholic, that does not mean the child will not become an alcoholic; we are only dealing with probabilities. Psychology deals with the gray area, which is often frustrating because it is so imprecise, but it is also fascinating.

Q: What makes you passionate about your field and teaching students?

A: Some of what makes me passionate is when students ask me a question or applying a concept or theory I just talked about in class. Application of the material to their own lives is about as satisfying as it gets. I encourage students to realy question me or the subject matter.

Another pleasure in teaching is when I can be partially responsible for getting students over the hump. For example, statistics, is a course that some students say they just don't get; they just don't understand. It makes me feel good when a student suddenly "gets it," especially if that student has taken statistics more than once in the past and not been able to get through it. That is very satisfying.

Q: What course(s) are your favorite to teach?

A: I like teaching introductory psychology. Most people (from the entering freshman class) take only one psychology class and I get to teach them. I enjoy the challenge of getting one crack at them and sending the students away with at least a little bit of (hopefully) valuable knowledge about psychology.

I also like teaching statistics. A lot of students think introductory statistics is a difficult class, so when I teach a class like that and get them through it, it kind of feels like I brought them to the promised land! Social Psychology and Personality Psychology, being my area, are also favorites.

Q: What co-curricular activities are you involved in, and how can students become involved with you in those activities?

A: I’m involved in some research projects. There are eight faculty members here, and students interested in research should ask all of the faculty members for their interests and research opportunities.

Q: Outside of TAMUCC, what extracurricular activities are you involved in; what do you do for fun?

A: I play bass guitar for Haverhill, my church band. As a matter of fact, our band played at last year’s Corpus Christi’s BAYFEST. I have also coached my son’s baseball teams, my daughter’s basketball team, my daughter's kickball team, and my youngest son's basketball team. That takes up a lot of my leisure time, because my wife and I follow all of the kids’ activities, during all of the various seasons. I enjoy playing basketball, going to and discussing movies, and reading books.

Q: Who inspired you the most or had the greatest impact during your collegiate experience which directed you to your field of study?

A: I did other things for nine years between getting my college degree and going back to graduate school. I worked a lot of different jobs during those years. I worked at several bookstores over the years. For one year I worked as a teacher's aide in a private school, grades K-12 in California. It was the first job I had ever had that I was no good at! However, I was drawn to the challenge of teaching. The principal there at that school inspired me, because he really cared about what he was doing. His concern with the children at that school has always inspired me to always take whatever my job is seriously.

Q: What is your greatest achievement and whom do you attribute this to?

A: Probably, the growth in my spiritual faith. My wife Alice was the major force behind this long and not always easy process.

Q: What question does the study of Psychology attempt to answer?

A: Simply, why do people do what they do?

Q: Wouldn’t be caught dead wearing?

A: Cowboy Boots! Sorry, that’s just not me.