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Faculty Profile: Dr. Mark Zrull

May 25, 2015
By Stephanie Sansoucy ’16

Dr. Mark Zrull is a professor of many hats. He not only teaches upper-level psychology classes and runs a research lab, but he also interacts with freshmen through his involvement in the “Brain Matters” Residential Learning Community, which he helped create, and its associated First Year Seminar course titled “Brain, the User’s Guide.”

The course explores the basic principles of neuroscience. Zrull has been teaching the class for approximately seven years, giving students the opportunity to explore different ways the brain is studied. Some of these students end up working in his research lab later in their academic career, he said.

Zrull’s research lab is where he gets to connect more deeply with his students.

Currently, students in Zrull’s lab want to know if changes in environment can affect an adolescent rat’s risk taking behavior. What affects the adolescent rat’s choice of something unfamiliar versus choosing something familiar?

Zrull said that students who wish to study neuroscience often choose the Psychology (BS), Natural Science degree because it offers an interdisciplinary education that includes biology and chemistry. And, recently, more students have gained interest in that approach to psychology in preparation for medical school.

Zrull also teaches a biological psychology class, which has mostly upper-level students.

Throughout his roles as teacher, researcher and mentor, Zrull said he is backed by a supporting community.

“Faculty have a great deal of support in this place,” Zrull said. “It is also certainly supportive of students, and I love that you can make connections with different parts of the university as you spend more time here.”  

Zrull said he sees students make connections across campus through the interdisciplinary nature of the Natural Science concentration. Students learn from faculty of psychology, biology and chemistry, all of whom support their students.

Meet more faculty

  • Dr. Mark Zrull teaches in the interdisciplinary Psychology (BS) - Natural Science program, where students learn from faculty of psychology, biology and chemistry.

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  • Psychology (BS) - Natural Science

    The Psychology (BS) - Natural Science degree is designed for students interested in going into a number of different health professions. It provides the required science courses for admissions into their desired health professions program.

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  • Dr. Wiley F. Smith Department of Psychology

    Appalachian’s Dr. Wiley F. Smith Department of Psychology serves more than 1,000 undergraduate majors seeking the Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree in psychology, as well as 80 graduate students in three master’s programs (experimental psychology, school psychology, and industrial-organizational psychology and human resource management) and the clinical psychology (Psy.D.) doctoral program. Learn more at https://psych.appstate.edu.

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    The College of Arts and Sciences at Appalachian State University houses 16 academic departments spanning the humanities, social sciences, and the mathematical and natural sciences.

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