Professor Embree prepares to state his case for reconsideration. Photo: Ryan Kernosky
Marlowe Embree, Assistant Professor of Psychology, gained departmental support for tenure promotion on Feb. 25. At his tenure reconsideration hearing held at UW-Marshfield/Wood County, the UW-Colleges Department of Psychology Executive Committee voted 4-2 in favor of reversing their prior decision denying promotion. Nearly 40 students attended the hearing to present testimony in support of Embree’s teaching and research qualifications. Embree’s final tenure decision now rests with the UWMC Promotion and Tenure Committee.
Two areas of concern initially caused the psychology department to deny Embree tenure. The department considered Embree’s use of textbooks to be inadequate and questioned the integrity of his research. Embree presented counterarguments at the reconsideration hearing addressing both issues.
Instruction and Textbook Usage
In response to the department’s concerns about textbook usage, Embree conducted a content analysis of his courses based on final exam review materials. In four courses that Embree taught most often, he identified 175 specific topics of which 147 were explicitly addressed in the textbooks, indicating a high degree of overlap between lectures and readings. Of the remaining 28 topics, Embree described them as deeper elaborations of issues mentioned tangentially in the text or cutting-edge issues within mainstream psychology, such as nomothetic vs idiographic traits, the relationship of the scientific method to epistemology of knowledge, and social psychology as history. Embree explained that the text material is assessed in exams and quizzes–25 percent of exam questions are drawn directly from the assigned readings and much of the remaining 75 percent emphasizes areas of overlap between text and lecture.
Embree also responded to the department’s criticism of his text reading guides used on the course website. He explained that the reading guides did not represent a comprehensive reiteration of all course material since overlapping topics not given treatment in the guide are covered in other readings, such as online lecture notes. Instead, the reading guides emphasize topics in the textbook that are not covered in lecture, primarily because of time limitations. “The text reading guides are designed to help students draw links between text and lecture–a skill that develops gradually during the undergraduate years,” said Embree.
The department’s concerns regarding textbook usage suggested that Embree’s courses were not providing balanced coverage of standard topics and appropriate intellectual rigor. Embree disagreed, citing assessments of former students who have advanced to upper-level courses and graduate school. “Many students have commented to me that my courses were more challenging, rigorous, and comprehensive than those encountered at four-year institutions and, in some cases, graduate school,” Embree stated. In his testimony before the committee, Embree showed that his courses included a balanced presentation of all topics listed in the UW-Colleges catalog descriptions.
“In my evaluations over the years, I think to some extent my teaching style has fallen afoul of some of the long-standing fault lines … within educational psychology,” said Embree. He defended his constructivist pedagogy, which on the surface may have appeared non-linear but, as Embree argued, moved students beyond rote memory to learn concept formation at a high level. “So long as intellectual rigor and breadth of coverage are preserved, the department can only benefit from encouraging pedagogical diversity, which is part of academic freedom,” said Embree.
Testimonials from students and colleagues helped Embree argue that concerns about his use of the textbook must be viewed in the broader context of his overall effectiveness as a teacher. “Given those testimonials, consistently high student evaluations over a 16-year period, frequent nominations for state-wide teaching awards, and other indicators, … I meet the statutory guidelines for teaching effectiveness that are found in senate policy 5.01,” said Embree.
Academic Research
Embree defended his research publications, a required component of the tenure process, against accusations that the journals in which they were published did not meet departmental standards.
With a research interest in Jungian psychology, Embree admitted that he was “swimming a bit upstream against a bias in the profession as a whole.” However, he distinguished his work from the problematic “pop psychology” applications of type theory, such as the Myers-Briggs model. Although typological models of personality have faced skepticism, a fact Embree readily acknowledged, he believed arguments in favor of their validity as a research tool have been neglected by contemporary psychology. Embree argued that Jungian theory offers several advantages over alternatives such as McCrae and Costa’s “Five Factor Model.” First, McCrae and Costa postulated that personality dimensions are non-additive and non-interactive. Embree’s research, however, showed strong interaction effects between preferences. For example, Embree’s career preference data showed that a combination of preferences often led to an interaction effect when an individual chooses their career. Second, Embree presented evidence in favor of “whole-type” differences in regard to an individual’s behaviors and attitudes. As opposed to individuals whose Jungian type may differ only by a single dimension, Embree argued that there are profound differences–career preferences, learning styles, and other cognitive and motivational factors–between people who are more likely to wholeheartedly endorse different psychological types. For example, “sensing” and “intuition” type differences can be used as a predictor of how many books a person reads in a year. “There is a strong linear relationship between the strength of intuition and the number of books you read in a year, which can be tested using a regression approach,” said Embree. “This is a statistically significant discontinuity which I think McCrae and Costa could not predict, would not have expected, and would have a hard time explaining.”
The nature of Embree’s research required that he seek publication in applied psychology journals which may have been less familiar to the committee than those used by pure theoretical researchers. “I want to make sure that my work is evaluated on its own merits and not viewed as substandard because it’s applied psychology or because the natural home for my articles are applied psychology journals,” Embree said. He cited data which showed the journals in which he was published adhere to appropriately high standards of peer review.
Embree’s research initiatives while employed as a tenure-track professor included eight written products, including four journal articles published to a national audience. Additionally, Embree made five conference presentations over the past five years and participated in two grant writing ventures.
Nearly 40 students attended Assistant Professor of Psychology Marlowe Embree’s tenure reconsideration hearing at UW-Marshfield/Wood County on Feb. 25. Photo: Ryan Kernosky
A Community Speaks
Over fifty letters of support and a petition signed by 330 students was presented to the committee, including a resolution passed by UWMC Student Government Association in support of Embree’s reconsideration. Nearly 40 students and alumni attended the reconsideration hearing.
Scott Bessert, UWMC alumnus, was enrolled in four courses with Embree before transferring to UW-La Crosse in 2003 where he completed his degree in psychology. “While my psychology professors were good at UW-La Crosse, I was a little disappointed that none were as good as Dr. Embree,” Bessert stated. He found Embree’s coursework to be more challenging than what he encountered after transferring. “His assessment was the toughest of any psychology course I had,” said Bessert.
A reading disability brought freshman Scott Kibbens to Embree’s office. After multiple attempts to understand the textbook material, Kibbens needed help. “The readings were there … but I still didn’t understand them,” he said. Embree met with Kibbens weekly to discuss alternative strategies for mastering the course material. “His guidance and his approach to teaching me how to study differently are the only reasons I passed that course,” Kibbens said.
Jeff Hinds, pastor at Highland Community Church in Wausau, spoke of Embree’s commitment to considering all points of view. Embree is an active member of the church, known for helping staff and teaching Sunday school. “It would be very easy in my setting for him not to give all sides of an issue,” said Hinds. “He’s academically rigorous in my setting and I am sure he is in yours as well.”
Although sophomore Joe Coldwell did not take a class with Dr. Embree, he spoke on behalf of a student and close friend who struggles with an anxiety disorder. “Whenever she struggles with anxiety, she can talk to him,” said Coldwell. “In my experience that’s rare.” Coldwell felt that Embree’s approachability is something the university should value.
Embree worked as a professional career counselor before returning to the UWMC in 2000. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Denver and his Ph.D from UW-Madison where he studied rates of repeat offenders in the Wisconsin Department of Corrections. Embree is the author of “Self-Managing Your Career,” an interactive career workbook.