Meet Our New Professor, Dr. Taylor!

I would like to introduce Dr. Taylor, a valued professor of our psychology department. With plenty of clinical and educational experience, Dr. Taylor has partnered with the University of Mount Olive since 1987, working at the university for over 30 years! Since 1987 until 2015, Dr. Taylor has worked full-time and part-time with the University of Mount Olive. He served Pitt Community College community college as department chair of human services, with responsibility over five programs, 350 students and 15 full-time and part-time faculty members. We appreciate the dedication and hard work he provides for our students. I am honored to have interviewed Dr. Taylor and learn about his background, interests, and advice for future students and aspiring psychologists!

Dr. Taylor is from Kinston, North Carolina and lives in Goldsboro. He enjoys spending time with family, especially with his 2 grandsons, while raising Australian Labradoodle puppies. As for athletics, he loves watching and playing baseball, basketball, and softball; and continues his interests in these sports, playing ball with his sons and grandsons. Although Dr. Taylor never imagined where he would be today with the education system, he believes it is a blessing to be a part of it. Rather than seeing the problems he faces as obstacles to overcome, Dr. Taylor gives a positive outlook on teaching and administering, giving it his all in his career. On the humorous side, he believes one of the harder aspects of teaching involves remembering foreign names and arriving to the right class with the right materials. When it comes to teaching, he believes in intentional, transformative, and collaborative education. Through intentional instructions, Dr. Taylor uses planned learning practices and unexpected moments as an opportunity to promote healthy learning experiences. Dr. Taylor also desires for students to take what they learn from the classroom and apply to real-life scenarios through transformative teaching. Dr. Taylor’s final objective of his teaching philosophy involves creating a safe environment where students can build trust in their settings with collaborative guidance.

As mentioned before, Dr. Taylor has a long history of clinical and teaching experience; however, he is also well-verse in research. Dr. Taylor has presented at various national and regional conferences, referring to his research in older adults and their relationship with alcohol and other substance abuse/misuse and the effects of the opioid crisis on older adults. He has also dove into research focusing on education away from the classroom. This research was conducted through a wilderness-retreat that promoted self-discovery, team building, and stronger connections between students and teachers. Dr. Taylor investigated the correlation between students’ GPA and their continuance in education and the weekend retreat. His results concluded students who participated in extracurricular activities like the weekend retreat had overall higher graduation rates than students who did not participate. This was because students reported to have built a closer bond with faculty members and peers and engaged with the self-discovery program.

Dr. Taylor has been working at the University of Mount Olive for many years, teaching diverse classes and materials. He enjoys the field of Crisis Intervention and his favorite class to teach at the university is Abnormal Psychology because it informs student to focus on the individual, separate from their diagnosis. By communicating materials that identifies the person with the illness rather than just the illness, professionals may help those in need to build compassion.

“Don’t be surprised by the great moments that happen in your life. Those great moments will happen. You have to look for them”. Dr. Taylor advises future students to start somewhere or with someone when finding their life purpose, reminding them that they have the ability to achieve great things. He also notes for students to research possible careers, yet always keep an open mind to career changes down the road. For aspiring clinicians and psychologists, Dr. Taylor claims, “Believe in people, believe people can make changes, look for good in people, become as knowledgeable as a clinician as you can, be open minded, and learn to laugh”. He is an inspiration who not only believes in our generation, but in each individual and their potential. We are more than pleased to have Dr. Taylor as a professor in our psychology department!