Teaching Interpersonal Effectiveness with Tiffany Smith and Libby Smith

This week I chat with Tiffany Smith and Libby Smith about our experiences teaching a course on interpersonal effectiveness in the MS in Applied Psychology program at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. We also discuss why teaching interpersonal skills is important and why we believe these skills can and should be explicitly taught.

Some background on the course

The course is a 3-credit, 8-week course that focuses on developing self-awareness through personal and collaborative reflective practice. It is the third course in the evaluation concentration. Tiffany brought this course to our evaluation program and taught it from 2015-17. Libby then taught it from 2018-19, bringing in new elements. Dana taught it most recently in an online environment due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Resources:

• Radical (Re)imagining: A collaborative reflective space
• Being Human at Work: A breathwork practice for integrating the personal and professional selves
• Tiffany Smith and colleagues' article "Demystifying reflective practice: Using the DATA model to enhance evaluators' professional activities"
• Smith, Smith, & Wanzer (2020) A framework for purposefully fostering interpersonal skills. Presented at the International Society for Evlauation Education (ISEE).
• Glass Frog podcast episode on Cultivating Interpersonal Effectiveness

About the guests:

Tiffany [Smith] Tovey: Tiffany [Smith] Tovey (she/her) is a researcher, program evaluator, and educator who focuses on the importance of reflective practice, epistemological awareness, and interpersonal communication in her work and life.

She is currently the senior evaluation specialist at the Office of Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Services in the Educational Research Methodology department at the University of North Carolina Greensboro.

At UNCG, she leads and facilitates numerous evaluation and research projects in K12 education, higher education, and community settings. She also teaches workshops and courses in interpersonal skills, reflective practice, research methods (qualitative and quantitative), and evaluation.

She has a Ph. D. in Educational Psychology and Research with a focus on Evaluation, Statistics, and Measurement and a cognate in Communication Studies from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Philosophy from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville as well, and thus very much enjoys a good, deep, philosophical conversation.

Libby Smith: Libby Smith (she/they) is an organizational healing facilitator, as an experienced and holistic evaluator and educator she excels at the human component of evaluation and organizational change. Never one to shy away from crucial conversations, Libby deftly balances accountability and compassion.

Their work focuses on building equity and accessibility through personal growth & embodiment practices. Libby uses all of these skills to provide intersectional and liberation-forward guidance to organizations and clients seeking transformative change.

She has an MS in Applied Psychology works for Catalyst at the University of Wisconsin-Stout, where she also serves as Program Director for the MS Applied Psychology program.

She has been practicing breathwork since 2018, primarily with the guidance of Amy Kuretsky, and has trained in breathwork healing with David Elliott She loves to walk in the woods, take photos and is auntie to 11 year old twin girls. You can learn more about her work at workwithlibby.com

Music by Matt Ingelson, http://www.mattingelsonmusic.com/