Armed with an infectious smile and intelligent mind, Dr. Charles Ramskov motivates and inspires his students to participate and learn from his classes through his own passion for the field of psychology.
Once a De Anza student, he’s now chair of the De Anza psychology department, where he has taught for 30 years.
He chose psychology as a discipline because it answers so many questions. “Psychology is one of the most important learning experiences you can have in college,” he says.
In addition to running the department and teaching courses, Ramskov is the De Anza adviser for Psi Beta, the national Honor Society in Psychology for Community and Junior Colleges. He challenges students with unusual events, such as bringing an FBI agent as a guest speaker to a Psych Club meeting and finding advisers from Stanford University to work with psychology honors students on their theses.
Students say the funny anecdotes he tells in class to illustrate his lectures help them remember course concepts. His classes are not solely theory based, but include laboratory experiments and information on career areas in psychology with regard to academic preparation and occupational outlook. He is the recipient of an award from “Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers.” “I’m ready to make [students] get the most out of their potential,” he says. “They are my customers, I’m in a service business. Day in and out, I give them the best access to psychology I can deliver.”
As for rewards? When a student comes back and tells him how much they have learned from the class, “that’s the reward,” he says.