Prof. Gurung is the December 2017 Commencement Speaker
Regan A. R. Gurung, an award-winning professor (Human Development, Psychology) at UW-Green Bay, is the December 2017 Commencement Speaker. His research focuses on questions surrounding teaching and learning, clothing and perception and culture and health. Gurung joined the University in 1999, and has held the prestigious Ben J. & Joyce Rosenberg Professorship since 2010. In May 2017, he was awarded the Charles L. Brewer Distinguished Teacher of Psychology Award from the American Psychological Foundation.
His wish for new graduates: “May Your Life be EPIC.” His presentation will provide key guiding principles for living a successful, healthy life. Building on UW-Green Bay’s interdisciplinary mission, Prof. Gurung will share a simple mantra for daily well being borrowed from psychological science: To live longer and stronger we should chill, drill and build.
Gurung has won several other awards and honors over his 18-year career at UW-Green Bay, including the Regents Teaching Excellence Award from the University of Wisconsin System, the Psi Chi Midwest Regional Outstanding Advisor Award, and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and Wisconsin Professor of the Year Award. He was president of the Society for Teaching of Psychology, is a member of the American Psychological Association, the Association for Psychological Science, the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning and the Society for Personality and Social Psychology.
Gurung is also the author of several books, including Health Psychology: A Cultural Approach, and editor of Latino Health, and Multicultural Approaches to Health and Wellness in America: Major Issues and Cultural Groups among others. Gurung talks about teaching and learning on his blog, the pedagogicalpundit.com. Additionally, he is on the editorial board for several publications including the “Psychology of Learning and Teaching,” the “American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine” and the “Worth Expert Handbooks for Student Success” series. He is the co-editor of “Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology” and is the lead author of a paper in the prestigious journal “American Psychologist.” Another paper on “How Women Cope with Stress” has been cited nearly 3,000 times.
In addition to his research, Gurung is active in the leadership of the university. He has served in a number of roles at UW-Green Bay, including Chair of Human Development, Chair of the Psychology Department, Associate Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and co-director of the UW-Green Bay Teaching Scholars Program.
Gurung also takes an active role in the Green Bay community and has served as the Co-Chair of LIVE54218, the past-president of the Bay Area Community Council, as a board member of Foundations Health and Counseling, Brown County Tobacco Free Coalition and the American Cancer Society County Leadership Council, and as a member of the Green Bay Chamber of Commerce Wellness Committee and the Green Bay Pain and Comfort Team.
His wish for today’s graduates: “May Your Life be EPIC.” His presentation will provide key guiding principles for living a successful, healthy life. Building on UW-Green Bay’s interdisciplinary mission, Prof. Gurung will share a simple mantra for daily wellbeing borrowed from psychological science: To live longer and stronger we should chill, drill and build.
Gurung was born and raised in Bombay, India. He came to the United States to further his education and went on to receive his Master’s and Ph.D. in Social/Personality Psychology at the University of Washington in Seattle. Gurung lives in the area with his wife, Martha, and their two children, Liam and Melina.