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Pablo C. Avila
HUP102
Instructor, Molly McCloy
5 June 2008
Coffee with Mentor Assignment
Since I am majoring in Social Sciences/Liberal Arts and planning to transfer to a four-year
college to major in Psychology, I interviewed my Psychology teacher Dr. Nurper Gokhan. She is
a Psychology teacher at the Social Sciences Department at LaGuardia Community College and
received her PhD in 1995. The questions I asked her go as follow:
1. How did you start your educational life?
Dr. Gokhan came to the United States many years ago from Turkey, her native country. She
recalls Turkey with a different education system and with a very different culture background
than in the United States. When she was eleven years old, she wanted to major in Psychology but
neither her family nor the community considered Psychology as an area of study, as she says
“studying Psychology was a joke.” Her family didn’t want her to study Psychology and offered
her Business Administration. When she started her studies in Turkey, she hated it. She didn’t like
her major and decided to leave it. When she talked to her parents, they realized that Business
Administration was obviously the wrong choice and they offered her coming to the United States
to study Psychology, the major she wanted.
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2. How did you start in the Psychology field?
The Psychology field seems to have been close to her environment. Her cousin was in High
School and was taking a Psychology course. They used to do homework together and he exposed
her even closer to the Psychology field. She read the book by Sigmund Freud “Case of Little
Hans.” A small book that talks about the theories Freud used to claim. Dr. Gokhan got angry
about the way Freud theorized about the boy and she wanted to find out more about those kinds
of cases, as she says, “I wanted to go and prove him wrong.” Let’s say this book was a negative
motivation since it got her angry. Besides that, she used to wonder a lot about behavior and why
people act the way they do.
3. What are some of the challenges you faced when starting your career?
Since she came to the United States, Dr. Gokhan faced many challenges. The language was
different, she speaks Turkish fluently, but she learned English here. Also, she faced a different
education system and tradition, “In Turkey, students stand up when the professor enters the
room, and there is a highly marked hierarchy between students and faculty. This conversation
could have never happened in Turkey twenty years ago.” Also, the gender was a challenge for
her because she affirms there were more opportunities for women than for men.
4. Is there anything you would have done differently?
Dr. Gokhan has nothing to change in her past. In reference to this question, she started to think
about her first major in Turkey, Business Administration. Even though she hated it, it was a
reason to prove to herself that she really wanted to major in Psychology, from that perspective,
that major was a motivation for her.
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5. What are some differences between Turkey and the United States in terms of your
career?
In Turkey, as Dr. Gokhan mentioned before, there were not opportunities for people who wanted
to major in Psychology, also the education system, as she affirms, does not offer counseling that
may direct the students’ desires and interests that may fit their career paths. However, when she
came to the United States, she realized about many differences, among them, that she got
counseling and started to discuss her career interests with faculty and mentors. But something
that really got her attention, in contrast to Turkey, is that, as she says, “here professor are
interested in listening to what students have to say, they want to hear their opinions, they want to
know what students can suggest, so there is a closer relationship between the student and the
professor, the hierarchy is not that marked.” It is true, she learned that the relationship between
the professor and the student can be even closer here and that is why she started to get the
benefits from the counseling she received.
6. How can I find opportunities to make connections with people who can help me on
my way in this career path?
Dr. Gokhan strongly recommends to get the Student Affiliates APA Membership because it will
offer you opportunities to exchange ideas with other students and also opportunities to apply for
different scholarships and other things. Besides that, once I graduate and go to a four-year
college I will pick a mentor who will guide my educational goals. Once there, Dr. Gokhan
suggests, opportunities will be available as a teacher assistant, a research assistant, and that is the
way we can create a network with people related to the field of psychology. Finally, she suggests
to keep in touch with professors through e-mail or any other mean of contact.
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Reflection
This assignment gave the opportunity to chat with someone who I can identify myself with. As
Dr. Gokhan, I am an immigrant who comes from another country and faces the same challenges
she did; a new language, a different culture, and different education system. Her experience
inspires me because she overcame many difficult times and finally got her PhD, a degree I am
aspiring to get some day in the future. Moreover, she showed me how she used her critical
thinking skills to determine her decision of majoring in Psychology, something I am also doing
since I am right at the beginning of this path. I need to make sure about my major and use my
critical thinking skills to determine how I am going to pursue my degree. This conversation also
allowed to see how approachable and opened a relation can be between a professor and a student.
That kind of relation gives the student the confidence to ask questions and request for advice
when needed.
ePortfolio Discussion with Paul Higbee
The ePortfolio Discussion took place in E-312 on May 5th, 2008. LaGuardia President Gail
Mellow invited his guest Mr. Paul Higbee to see the ePortfolio work of some of the students who
were invited (myself included). During this short session, we had the chance to ask any questions
to Mr. Higbee and get some advice from someone who has built an outstanding career like his.
Mr. Higbee is a partner in the investment banking G.C. Anderson Partners, LLC. He has been
giving money to LaGuardia to fund scholarships and is highly interested in the ePortfolio Project
at LaGuardia Community College.
The main two questions I myself asked him are:
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1. What do you think is the most important tool a person can get to pursue a career
path?
For this question, Mr. Higbee pointed out that the most important tool for him was the
counseling he got since very young. He graduated from Princeton University and found, in
counselors and mentors, a strong tool to direct his educational goals. At first, he wasn’t sure
about his major, but later on he got the advice he wanted and could pursue the career he has now.
As Dr. Gokhan also suggested, Mr. Higbee recommends students to keep in touch with teachers
and mentors so that we can create an ample network where we can get some advice.
2. How did you start your career—your first job experience—and overcame the
challenges until getting to where you are now?
When asked this question, Mr. Higbee recalled his first job and the advice he received from his
father, “always be the first one in arriving.” He told us the experience he had, sometimes when
he didn’t know how to do something, he asked someone else. This is the constant suggestions he
gave us throughout the session. A company does not want someone who know it all, but
someone who wants to learn constantly.
Reflection
This short session with Mr. Higbee exposed me to the life of a person who has built an
outstanding career. He has succeeded due to the counseling he got.
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1-year-goal: To keep my GPA over 3.8 and to take an advanced psychology class. Also, for that
time, I should have enrolled the APA as a student to get more information about psychology
majors.
5-year-goal: To get a bachelor’s degree in Developmental Psychology. By this time, I should
have developed an internship in the field of developmental psychology at Hunter College.