Office Hours

Giselle (00:10):
Hi everybody, my name's Giselle Kowalski and you're listening to Office Hours. And today we're talking to Amy Meeks and I'm here with Adriana. Hey Adriana. What's up? ADRIANNA: Hi, how are you? I'm great. How are you? Good. Awesome. So tell me about this conversation with Amy Meeks. What did you learn from it?

Adrianna (00:24):
I learned that I actually have a lot in common with her, more than I thought. You take psych everywhere you go.

Giselle (00:28):
That's true. Yeah. And then also she started at Texas State whenever you were born in 2003.

Adrianna (00:33):
Yeah, that's crazy. I couldn't imagine what it looked like then here at Texas State.

Giselle (00:36):
I know. Yeah. Well that's kind of perfect and it kind of goes all in sync. Well, yeah. We hope you guys enjoy this episode of Office Hours.

Adrianna (00:47):
Can you start us off by introducing yourself? We just wanna know your name and what you do at Texas State.

Amy Meeks (00:51):
Sure. My name is Amy Meeks and I'm a senior lecturer in the Department of Psychology at Texas State University in San Marcos.

Adrianna (00:59):
Awesome. Okay. To start us off, kind of ease us in, I wanna know, what's the song that you listened to last?

Amy Meeks (01:04):
Oh my goodness.

Adrianna (01:06):
Do you wanna know what I listen to?

Amy Meeks (01:07):
What did you listen to?

Adrianna (01:07):
It was, um, the "Painted World" by Silk Rhodes.

Amy Meeks (01:10):
Ah, love that. Actually it was probably a Tina Turner song. Oh. Since she just recently died. Mm-hmm. , I've been like back into Tina Turner.

Adrianna (01:18):
Do you know what song?

Amy Meeks (01:19):
You know, it was probably the one they're playing all the time, like, uh, what is it? "You're the Best"? Something like that.

Adrianna (01:24):
Yeah. I don't know them all off the top of my head. Yeah.

Amy Meeks (01:26):
She's great. You should listen to her. Love her.

Adrianna (01:29):
What's your first job? What was your first job?

Amy Meeks (01:32):
My first job actually was teaching at Texas State. ADRIANNA: Really? Yeah. I did that, um, for three years, just came on as an adjunct, they used to be called, which just means a part-time person. Like you pick up a class or two, but you're not full-time. Actually, I came in in the middle of the fall because somebody had to leave and so I saw the job, applied for it, got it. I thought this is right up my alley. Mm-hmm. and, um, did that for three years, then took a break 13 years to raise my children, and now I've been back for 20 years. Wow. Came back in January of '03. Wow.

Adrianna (02:09):
2003. Yeah. That's when I was born.

Amy Meeks (02:11):
Is that right? It was a good year.

Adrianna (02:12):
It's a great year. Yeah. So since that was your first job you were teaching, did you always wanna be a professor?

Amy Meeks (02:17):
You know, I liked it. I had to do that in graduate school. Uh, my major professor said, oh, I want you to lecture. And I was like, no, no, no, no. But she insisted on it. Mm-hmm. . And then I found that I really liked it. It was fun and interesting and it sort of came naturally. Um, and so that's when I realized this might work. Mm-hmm. , you know. Yeah. But I really, I had a, my Ph.D. is in Child and Family Therapy, so I always had my eye on being a therapist. Okay. And then for a while I combined those two.

Adrianna (02:47):
Wow. So then you kind of knew you wanted to go into psychology cause that's your degree.

Amy Meeks (02:51):
Yes, exactly. So my undergraduate is in psychology, and actually I had a double major psych and soc, psychology and sociology. And then my master's is in straight child development. Oh. And then by the end of my master's, I realized I wanted to help children. Mm-hmm. . So then I went for a Ph.D. in Child and Family Therapy.

Adrianna (03:08):
Oh wow. And then you ended up being a professor?

Amy Meeks (03:10):
Exactly. . Oh, exactly. Using all of that experience. Oh, yeah.

Adrianna (03:14):
So then you did, you described what you did in college, but where did you study?

Amy Meeks (03:17):
I went to Austin College. ADRIANNA: Oh, okay. It's a very small Presbyterian related school. Um, right above Dallas, about 60 miles north of Dallas. Mm-hmm. Just like 10 minutes from the Oklahoma line. ADRIANNA: Yeah. And, uh, it was fun. It was a very small school, it was perfect for me. Mm-hmm. , about a thousand students when I was there. I think they capped the enrollment at 1200. So you really knew everybody on campus. You knew all of your professors. It was a liberal arts school mm-hmm. , which was also good for me. Yeah. . Um, and I just loved it. It was a good fit. And then for my graduate work, I went to Virginia, Virginia Tech. Mm-hmm. VPINSU, intended to just stay for a master's, but ended up staying on for a Ph.D. Oh. So it was great. Five and a half years there.

Adrianna (03:59):
That's awesome. Yeah. So then what was the biggest challenge you faced at either school?

Amy Meeks (04:03):
At undergraduate was my biggest challenge just because I had to figure out what I wanted to major in. Mm-hmm. , that's always a struggle. It is. Yeah. Uh, because the world is interesting. Mm-hmm. and I've, you know, am easily distracted. I like a lot of different things. Me too. Um, but once I realized I was always drawn to the courses about people, why they do what they do, how to help them, then I had a general target, and that was psychology. So once I figured that out, then it, uh, wasn't difficult to know. I always liked children. So then by the time you get to graduate school, and this is what I tell students to this day, by the time you get to graduate school, you've chosen what you want to study and learn about. So graduate school was not... Yes, it's rigorous.

(04:49):
I was gonna say, it's not that difficult. It's not difficult to be interested in the subject. Right. Because when they would say to me either in my master's or my Ph.D. program, here's your book, you need to read it by next week, I would be like, okay. Because I was so interested in the material. Yeah. Because you've already self-selected the field that you're gonna learn more about. It's not like undergraduate where you have a broad range of, what do they call them? Like all of the things you have to take, the core courses or something.

Adrianna (05:16):
Like that. Yeah.

Amy Meeks (05:17):
Something like that. Mm-hmm. , um, math, history, you know, government, English. So some of those you might not be interested in, but by the time you get to graduate school, you're just so excited to be there. Yeah. You want to learn more. So probably I go back to answer your question, my biggest challenge was figuring out which direction did I want to go. And I did that in undergraduate school.

Adrianna (05:37):
That's good. You figured it out early.

Amy Meeks (05:38):
Right. Well, and then I just kept fine-tuning it. Yeah. Like I said, I knew I liked people, and then I realized at the end of college I really liked children and I wanna learn more about the whole developmental process. So I went to a two years master's program mm-hmm. . And then by the end of that I thought, now I wanna help children. Right. So I stayed on for that Ph.D. in therapy.

Adrianna (05:56):
Wow, that's so cool.

Amy Meeks (05:57):
Yeah. It was an easy, now when look back, it was easy, but you don't know until it unfolds.

Adrianna (06:01):
Yeah.

Amy Meeks (06:01):
Definitely. Now just sort of let your life unfold.

Adrianna (06:03):
Yeah. That's what I've been learning slowly. Good.

Amy Meeks (06:05):
Slowly, slowly. Absolutely. Slowly, slowly. That works.

Adrianna (06:07):
Mm-hmm. . So you teach in front of like 300 to 400 students? AMY: I do. What's that like?

Amy Meeks (06:11):
I do in the teaching theater. Yeah. Well, it's fine. I mean now I'm so used to it. They didn't ask me if I wanted to do that. They just told me I was going to do that. Mm-hmm. early on when I came back. Yeah. Uh, in 2003, I was probably one or two years into it and the chairman at the time came and said, okay, this is your schedule for next semester. And I'm like, what ? Um, but it has worked ever since then. Because they're just students, you know, you just have a lot of them at the same time. . Yeah. . Um, so the trick in the teaching theaters is really to get the back ones, the ones sitting in the back of the room, as engaged as the ones in the front. The ones in the front, you can be guaranteed they're gonna answer, they're gonna be listening because that's why they sit in the front.

(06:54):
Yeah, definitely. They want to not miss anything. They want to be in on everything. Mm-hmm. . So that's why you have to figure out how to walk around in the teaching theater. And then you call out when you ask a question. Okay, you guys over on the left hand side in the back, what do you guys think about that? Instead of always just letting the front ones answer. Mm-hmm. . So I don't mind it at all. I actually love it. Yeah. Um, and I just hope that I can reach them on the same level that you can, like in a seminar size class, but I try, I do my best.

Adrianna (07:22):
Yeah. I feel like you definitely do if you're like calling people out. Right. I try. That always scared me, but then I learned better when people did that.

Amy Meeks (07:28):
Oh, absolutely. And in my classes at least, it's not, I'm not trying to set you up to be embarrassed, uh, or to trick you. I always just wanna know what you think.

Adrianna (07:37):
The proudest moment of your career thus far?

Amy Meeks (07:44):
Of my career? Hmm. I don't know that there would be just one. I guess it's what I hear that students say about me on that site, like rate your professor. Yeah. I actually have never looked.

Adrianna (07:55):
Oh, it's scary.

Amy Meeks (07:56):
My children have looked, my adult and they're now adult children. Um, and then my students tell me all the time, oh, you should look, you know, no . I'm like one of those actors who doesn't wanna watch themselves on screen. Right. But I hear that my reviews are really good. And then I also get notes from students and they tell me, they send me emails at the end of the semester and, you know, knowing that I can provide them with information that is valuable that they can carry with them throughout life, I just think that's so cool and important and it makes me feel like I'm doing my job and I'm doing it well. Right. So that's what I'm up there for.

Adrianna (08:32):
If you could talk to college-Amy, what's something that she couldn't believe that you're doing today?

Amy Meeks (08:37):
Teaching in front of 400 students at a time. Right. Uhhuh . Because I really basically am shy at heart and I tell my students this a lot. I was the child who was so shy. I remember at church, at the end of church or maybe going in, I don't know, somewhere at church, when people would be meeting and greeting everybody, I would stand behind my father's leg because I was so shy. Yeah. I didn't want to talk to anybody. And here I am standing up on a stage with a microphone talking to 400 kids at a time. So, you know, it's just learning to come into what your abilities are and to be able to use them to make the world better. Yeah. So.

Adrianna (09:13):
It's a lot easier when you know what you're doing, you know what you're talking about.

Amy Meeks (09:16):
Exactly. Yeah. Exactly. And I feel comfortable in the topics that I do teach. All the subjects that I teach. I'm good. I'm good with that. .

Adrianna (09:23):
What keeps you motivated and inspired?

Amy Meeks (09:25):
People! So people do. Yeah. Even though I love them, I am always like picking up on things and figuring things out, you know, like, oh, maybe that's why that's happening, or maybe that's why this person is doing that. So that's what keeps me going, honestly. Interaction with others.

Adrianna (09:39):
Yeah. Every day you get to see something new that you're like, that connects everything.

Amy Meeks (09:42):
I do. And even now at this age in my life, because as you know, I have adult children. Young adult children. And so now I've known other parents and mothers and fathers. We've raised our children together. And honestly, I'm like, oh my gosh, I, you know, I tried to help them with that when they were parenting in that way, , you know, but you just can say so much. And now we're seeing the results when their children are young adults and I'm like, oh my goodness.

Adrianna (10:10):
If only you'd listened.

Amy Meeks (10:11):
Yeah. I'm still putting it all together. It's like, you know what? That really does pan out. That really makes a difference. So that's one of the big pushes that I have, especially in my lifespan development class — you guys, how you interact with your little ones, how you form that attachment, that bonding, that makes such a difference, that will follow them through the rest of their life. Yeah. So I'm always, I'm always noticing those things.

Adrianna (10:33):
Right. Little details.

Amy Meeks (10:35):
Exactly. That matter.

Adrianna (10:36):
That keeps you motivated. Seeing all little details. All the time.

Amy Meeks (10:39):
Exactly. Mm-hmm. . Exactly. It makes a difference.

Adrianna (10:41):
Definitely. So right now I'm a senior in college and I'm gonna graduate in the fall.

Amy Meeks (10:44):
Congratulations.

Adrianna (10:45):
Thank you. Yes. So as I grow and change before I get into the real world, do you have any advice for me?

Amy Meeks (10:51):
Listen, well, notice yourself. Listen to yourself. Don't be afraid to try new things. Don't be afraid, if something doesn't feel right, say that. Know your yourself. Just be very self-aware. That's the biggest way that you can help yourself is to be self-aware. Knowing your gifts, your strengths, your talents. Knowing what you don't feel comfortable with. Knowing what you want to work on and push and grow with a little bit. And things that you're like, okay, that's not my jam. I'm gonna pull back from that a bit. So just being self-aware. Yeah. If you can be self-aware, you're gonna be fine. Okay. You'll be fine.

Adrianna (11:25):
Good. I feel like I'm a little self-aware, but I could definitely get better at it.

Amy Meeks (11:28):
Just notice, that's all it takes, just noticing.

Adrianna (11:30):
Listen to my body. Listen to my mind.

Amy Meeks (11:32):
Exactly. Definitely. Exactly. It's not just your internal mind. Good point. It's all about how did I physically react to that? Even if it's a food, you know, how did I feel after I ate all of that? Or how did I feel? Do I have an allergic reaction? Or what food am I drawn to? Yeah, exactly.

Adrianna (11:46):
Awesome, that's it.

Amy Meeks (11:47):
Oh, that's cool.

Adrianna (11:48):
Yeah. That's everything. Okay. You did amazing.

Amy Meeks (11:50):
Well, how'd we do?

Adrianna (11:51):
You did great.

Amy Meeks (11:52):
Okay. Thank you.

Adrianna (11:54):
Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Office Hours with me, Adrianna, and Amy Meeks. We hope you enjoyed, and we'll see you next time. Bye, y'all.