Tiger Talk with Dr. Nancy Woehrle
Please provide a brief bio, your educational background, research interests, and your favorite courses to teach:
I joined the Wittenberg faculty in 2012 after earning a PhD in Neurobiology from the University of Chicago and performing a postdoc in psychiatric genetics at the same institution. I teach courses at Witt in psychology and neuroscience. My favorite courses to teach include my 100-level physiological psychology course, 200-level psychopharmacology course, and 300-level behavioral neuroscience course. I’ve always been fascinated by the fact that biological substrates underlie the mind, and my research program at Witt focuses on mental illness. Current projects in my lab include investigations into the link between prenatal antidepressant exposure and autism risk, the role of the brain’s serotonin system in autism, the mechanisms underlying the antidepressant effects of exercise, and the long-term consequences of sub-concussive head injury.
How have you seen participation in athletics help a student be successful in your courses and as a learner in your discipline?
Athletes are often motivated to work hard for reasons directly related to their sport. For example, students must maintain a certain GPA to remain in active status on a roster, and many students seek state and national athlete-scholar recognition. In my courses and research, I regularly discuss topics athletes express interest in, such as the beneficial effects of exercise on mood and negative effects of repeated head injury on mental health. Finally, the regular exercise associated with participation in athletics may benefit students by improving concentration and quality of sleep, and decreasing stress and anxiety.
What are your perceptions on the role athletics plays in our Wittenberg community and how does it help fulfill Wittenberg’s mission?
Participation in athletics contributes to wholeness of person by providing community, leadership, and discipline. Moreover, those of us not on a Wittenberg sports team get to watch our players compete at the highest levels in DIII. What fun!
What is special about Wittenberg that makes it such an ideal University for our students to be a successful psychology major and athlete?
Wittenberg is a special place for many reasons. One of those reasons is the strength of our athletic programs. We have incredibly successful psychology majors and minors that are also athletes, and I think part of what helps these student-athletes succeed is the opportunity to relate their passion for sport to their academic studies. Psychology is relevant directly and indirectly to so many things. An understanding of sports psychology, for example, provides insight for athletes as they deal with team dynamics, recovery from loss or possibly injury, and the mental toll that chronic high-level physical exertion can take.
Please share a personal success story of one of your former or current students that participated in athletics that you are most proud of?
Molly Gustafson (’14) is one of the many student-athletes that the psychology department is proud to call our own. Molly earned All-America honors and went to the NCAA DIII national championship three times in her stellar four-year collegiate swimming career at Wittenberg.