PUC Psychology Professor Connects Classroom and Community

Throughout the 2025-2026 academic year, Pacific Union College Assistant Professor of Psychology Libna Arroyo invited guests to her psychology courses to give students real-world learning experiences through the college’s experiential learning opportunities.

For the PSYC 235: Child Development class,  Professor Arroyo invited two families, one of whom is PUC Assistant Professor of Kinesiology Matt Evans’ family, with children under five, to participate in age-appropriate activities with college students during the child development lab.

PSYC 264: Social Psychology featured a Holocaust survivor, Anita, who was a hidden Jewish child during World War II. She has been sharing her story for five years and is currently 93 years old. Also, National Association of Veterans Affairs Chaplain (NAVAC) Board Certified Chaplain and Air Force Chaplain Jonathan Arroyo spoke to the students about altruism.

Arroyo invited two families from the community who have adopted children through foster care in California to her PSYC 335: Adolescent Psychology class to share their experiences with adolescents. These families shared their experiences in parenting children who have suffered trauma. The parents also shared their relationships with professionals who work with their children, such as social workers, school counselors, and teachers, and provided tips for interacting with families in their future careers.

Arranging a panel for the SOCI 355: Cultural Diversity course, she welcomed Asian American and African American faculty and staff from across PUC to share their cultural experiences with students, as well as Jovannah Poor Bear-Adams, a member of the Lakota Tribe from the Iowa-Missouri Conference. Because many of the students had not been exposed to people from the different minority groups, it was very informative to “help open the world to different people with different backgrounds.” Students have also said that this course helped shape their perspectives, providing a safe space to discuss their views on various cultural issues.

In the PSYC 357: Psychological Testing course, Dr. Corinne Gomez, a school psychologist in Napa County, shared her over 20 years of experience concerning psychological testing and the duties of a school psychologist at the K-12 levels. The students learned the path to achieving a degree in school psychology.

Lastly, for PSYC 436: Physiological Psychology, Arroyo invited  Dr. Kahlilia C. Morris-Blanco, assistant professor in the departments of cell and developmental biology and neurology at the University of Pennsylvania.  Professor Morris-Blanco shared her research on strokes and answered questions about the path to becoming a neuroscientist working in a research laboratory.

“Learning from other people who are in the field, who have gone through a specific experience, brings a rich learning environment for the students, and you cannot truly understand the experience until you hear a story from somebody who has lived it firsthand,” said Arroyo.

PUC continues to offer an experiential learning curriculum across campus, preparing students with real-world experience for well-equipped careers beyond the classroom.