Sacramento Professor Traces His Life's Work Back To A Particular Class
Psychology Professor Greg Hurtz has long been intrigued by the power of mathematical models to help understand peoples' thinking and behavior. This and a practical interest in business led him to begin studying industrial-organizational (I-O) psychology and quantitative psychology at California State University, Sacramento (CSUS). There he earned his psychology B.A. (1993) and M.A. (1997), and then went to the University at Albany, State University of New York and earned his Ph.D. (2002) in I-O psychology. He returned to CSUS as a psychology professor 12 years ago.
Of his teaching, Dr. Hurtz says, "I try to focus on skills students can use in their careers. That's why I like teaching statistics, psychological testing, and industrial psychology - these are topics that don't stop at theory, but allow me to teach them how to do stuff."
An example of Hurtz's applied work was a contract with the State of CA Peace Officers Standards and Training (POST), where he helped evaluate one of the cognitive tests used for selecting recruits into the academies. "It's a test of reading and writing, and we developed and piloted new measures of reasoning abilities. Our statistical analysis showed that our measures would substantially increase the power of the test to predict success in the police academy."
Originally an intended business student, Hurtz quickly moved toward science but was an undeclared major for awhile, and started taking psychology classes with his girlfriend. Shannon Quinlan Hurtz - now his wife of 20 years, who also possesses a Ph.D. in psychology, and is a lecturer at CSUS. "But in my senior year, I happened to take two classes simultaneously that gave me that "click" where I realized what I wanted to do with both my psychology education and career."
And as such, Hurtz began a research program that employed the nexus of industrial psychology and test development that he says "I'm still researching today." He now teaches the same classes at CSUS that inspired him years ago; and he hopes he provides the occasional student with that "click" of inspiration toward I-O or quantitative psychology.
Click the link to see some of Hurtz's research publications and presentations.
Karen Hansen M.S. Earth Sciences, has been an educator and consultant who is currently an analyst regarding land and other public information records. She lives and works in Sacramento, CA. She has been writing about earth and the environmental sciences for Examiner.com since May of 2010. Find her work in several sections of the publication. You can find her work at SF Solar Energy Examiner, SF Environmental News Examiner and Environmental News Examiner
