Boston College Athletics
Faculty Appreciation: Dr. Andrea Heberlein
January 29, 2021 | Boston College Athletics, #ForBoston Files
In a world built on mutual trust, the Eagles know they can find it in a member of BC's Psychology Department.
One of Boston College's core athletics pillars centers around the complete university experience. Coaches melt the institution into their search for elite recruits and often marvel at their respective teams' ability to wrap the classroom into their individual cultures. It's a unique piece for every Eagle, but it incorporates the foresight and knowledge that someone's playing career inevitably ends.
It's far from a one-sided discussion. The dual-sided masthead incorporates professors and advisors as much as coaches and athletic personnel into its full body, and the respect is reciprocated in the classroom where teachers demand high-level education just as much as the ACC in a respective field.
Dr. Andrea Heberlein's admiration for her students is built on a level of trust, and that characteristic makes her one of BC's valued educators. She is an elite student herself, having completed undergraduate coursework at the University of Pennsylvania with a PhD from Iowa, and she joined the Boston College community in 2011 as a Visiting Assistant Professor. She became a full-time lecturer in 2012.
It's a career with recognition as both a published and awarded psychology mind. She spent two years as a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard and earned the Certificate of Distinction from the Bok Center for Teaching in 2009. It came after earning a fellowship at the McDonnell Summer Institute in Cognitive Neuroscience in Squaw Valley, California in 2003 and as part of a career dotted with published papers and chapters.
"I think that people can hold onto an understanding of a different way of thinking," she said. "One of the goals of my emotion classes is to introduce students at BC to an understanding of how people think and all different disciplines. If you're going to be a doctor or an engineer or (anything else), it's how people can become a more sophisticated consumer of (the world around them). Is it something that can apply to me or something I can bring into my professional life while bringing that understanding to roles that most of us will do at some point in our lives."
"I really enjoyed Professor Heberlein's class," said softball pitcher and outfielder CC Cook. "Social psychology is an interesting subject on its own, but she really brought the class to life. She was always very willing to meet with students during office hours to further explain content, and her lessons were engaging and applicable to the real world. There are many elements from that class that I still think about to this day, so I'm really glad I had the opportunity to take it."
It's part of the intellectual challenge for Boston College students and student-athletes as everyone navigates the murky waters surrounding the COVID-19 era. Heberlein remained fluid with her students after the pandemic outbreak forced everyone into a more virtual learning system, and her retention of a mutual respect between student and educator allowed students to adapt to the ever-changing real world.
"I say over and over to my students that I will extend as much grace as I possibly can," she said. "I ask the same of them since none of us are living in the kind of world that makes this work go well. It's a hard environment to learn in, and it's harder for some people. Then it's a hard environment to teach in. If I have students who really want to meet in person, we can absolutely do that. My big classes are online, but I can meet with students who really crave that face-to-face interaction. For some people, it's really hard to stay on top of things when they're not in the classroom, and I get that."
It's further anchored the impact on her students, especially those who compete under the Eagles' maroon and gold flag. Being a student at Boston College requires an extraordinary dedication on both a quantified time and qualified intellectual setting, and the student-athlete experience is built on careful balance within that foundation. It's demanding, but the ability to center it is a collaborative effort from student to teacher and vice-versa.
"I am blown away by people who are able to put in the kind of hours that athletes put in and still be as academically engaged as the athletes that I've seen in my classes," Heberlein said. "The demands in terms of organization and focus are just astonishing, so I'm really in awe.Â
I know people who are or aren't athletes are managing all kinds of elements in their lives," she continued. "I don't usually get to hear the details unless something goes wrong, so my assumption is always that people are managing a lot and are doing their best. I think we have more of a window into what's going on with athletes, but we all communicate. I'm going to trust that they're doing their best. My expectations are high, but I will work with them to figure out how to beat those constraints of everything else that's happening."
It's far from a one-sided discussion. The dual-sided masthead incorporates professors and advisors as much as coaches and athletic personnel into its full body, and the respect is reciprocated in the classroom where teachers demand high-level education just as much as the ACC in a respective field.
Dr. Andrea Heberlein's admiration for her students is built on a level of trust, and that characteristic makes her one of BC's valued educators. She is an elite student herself, having completed undergraduate coursework at the University of Pennsylvania with a PhD from Iowa, and she joined the Boston College community in 2011 as a Visiting Assistant Professor. She became a full-time lecturer in 2012.
It's a career with recognition as both a published and awarded psychology mind. She spent two years as a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard and earned the Certificate of Distinction from the Bok Center for Teaching in 2009. It came after earning a fellowship at the McDonnell Summer Institute in Cognitive Neuroscience in Squaw Valley, California in 2003 and as part of a career dotted with published papers and chapters.
"I think that people can hold onto an understanding of a different way of thinking," she said. "One of the goals of my emotion classes is to introduce students at BC to an understanding of how people think and all different disciplines. If you're going to be a doctor or an engineer or (anything else), it's how people can become a more sophisticated consumer of (the world around them). Is it something that can apply to me or something I can bring into my professional life while bringing that understanding to roles that most of us will do at some point in our lives."
"I really enjoyed Professor Heberlein's class," said softball pitcher and outfielder CC Cook. "Social psychology is an interesting subject on its own, but she really brought the class to life. She was always very willing to meet with students during office hours to further explain content, and her lessons were engaging and applicable to the real world. There are many elements from that class that I still think about to this day, so I'm really glad I had the opportunity to take it."
It's part of the intellectual challenge for Boston College students and student-athletes as everyone navigates the murky waters surrounding the COVID-19 era. Heberlein remained fluid with her students after the pandemic outbreak forced everyone into a more virtual learning system, and her retention of a mutual respect between student and educator allowed students to adapt to the ever-changing real world.
"I say over and over to my students that I will extend as much grace as I possibly can," she said. "I ask the same of them since none of us are living in the kind of world that makes this work go well. It's a hard environment to learn in, and it's harder for some people. Then it's a hard environment to teach in. If I have students who really want to meet in person, we can absolutely do that. My big classes are online, but I can meet with students who really crave that face-to-face interaction. For some people, it's really hard to stay on top of things when they're not in the classroom, and I get that."
It's further anchored the impact on her students, especially those who compete under the Eagles' maroon and gold flag. Being a student at Boston College requires an extraordinary dedication on both a quantified time and qualified intellectual setting, and the student-athlete experience is built on careful balance within that foundation. It's demanding, but the ability to center it is a collaborative effort from student to teacher and vice-versa.
"I am blown away by people who are able to put in the kind of hours that athletes put in and still be as academically engaged as the athletes that I've seen in my classes," Heberlein said. "The demands in terms of organization and focus are just astonishing, so I'm really in awe.Â
I know people who are or aren't athletes are managing all kinds of elements in their lives," she continued. "I don't usually get to hear the details unless something goes wrong, so my assumption is always that people are managing a lot and are doing their best. I think we have more of a window into what's going on with athletes, but we all communicate. I'm going to trust that they're doing their best. My expectations are high, but I will work with them to figure out how to beat those constraints of everything else that's happening."
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