How a professor and a student came to write a blog
By Jennifer Agbanyo UA’27 and Jim Stellar
JA was a student in an introductory psychology class that JS taught in the spring of 2024. She sat on the right-hand side of the classroom as seen from the front and was highly attentive in class, which JS took for interest. They started talking and that developed into this relationship where we are now writing this blog. We could not be more different in age, race, gender, but somehow we connected. What happened and what does it mean for student-faculty mentoring.
JS’ Introductory Psychology class was a prerequisite for JA’s Biology major. Prior to taking the class, JA had a keen interest in the functions of the brain and why we do the things that we do. However, JA knew that it was a relatively smaller class and she did not know anyone in it, so she did not expect much from it other than to learn about psychology. Much to JA’s surprise, a friendship bloomed in that Psychology classroom. But it was not with a peer. It was with a professor. A white male professor at that, which is everything JA was not.
So what happened next? We started meeting in JS’ office, at first to discuss course content and JA wanted feedback on what she was learning. That slipped into a dialogue about her career development which felt natural. That, in turn, led JS to ask JA if she wanted to write a blog in series that JS writes with students. What guided us, we think, is that somehow we were simpatico despite all differences. That interaction we think was dependent on a common theme in this blog of cognitive-emotional integration which to two biology majors (one former) turns into neocortical-limbic system integration.
The neocortex— more specifically the frontal lobe— coordinates reasoning and planning in our brains to help us reach decisions. JA made a conscious decision to learn. By displaying attentive body language, facial expressions, and sustained eye contact, she allowed JS’ amygdala and limbic system to interpret this as an invitation to offer support as a mentor. This became the foundation of our mentoring relationship.
The relationship we share is not solely because of the words exchanged. It is built on reading each other. What does that mean? Some may call it reading energy but in neuropsychology, we call it cognitive-emotional integration. A relevant 2004 paper highlights the connection effect between strong emotional connections and improved cognitive performance. This integration of function involves a collaboration between two specialized brain regions (neocortex and limbic system) that influence and communicate with each other. But how exactly does this relate to us?
The limbic system is trained through experience rather than pre-programmed through the genes. Though it is dominated by emotion, we can develop it in our lives to control our impulses, and to build meaningful memories. JA’s willingness to learn from JS is a manifestation of her limbic-cognitive integration. How so? We think that the frontal lobe processes new information in terms of plans and supports recollection. As a student, she consistently challenges herself with rigorous courses for her pre-medical major and continues to learn. Upon realizing that a meaningful student-faculty mentoring relationship is as impactful as the academic knowledge she can gather in a classroom, she allowed space for a personal and almost familial relationship to blossom. JS and JA foster a transfer of knowledge that is exponentially stronger— further supporting what we discussed earlier in this blog: neocortical-limbic system integration is a powerful dynamic for learning in the brain.
Though this cognitive and emotional investment is not easy to establish, it is capable of linking two people with social differences and completely transforming the student experience here at the University at Albany. JA can attest that following each conversation with JS, her motivation and openness towards knowledge acquisition increase. JS has a similar reaction as he gets a motivational boost to be a better teacher and professor by seeing students like JA grow and develop.
What is remarkable is that the connection bridges age, gender, & race gaps – not to mention the very different cultures that young people have today from us older people, e.g. look at how fast each of them text on their phones. And behind that is a kind of cultural knowledge about the internet, e.g. the use of AI answering questions. That could have been a barrier, but it was not. So, while the professor is supposed to teach the student, JS as a professor, sometimes pests JA with questions about things like his own teaching which she experienced last year. He employed personified AI chatbots to ask the Monday morning quizzes and contrasted student performance with traditional written quizzes presented in a university learning module. The trust between them is an asset to JS in delivering the course this year that she took last year. This is important to JS as AI has taken a big step forward over the last year.
