Shane Westfall has just started his first semester as an assistant professor of psychology and sociology at Wayne State College.  

After several changes at his previous teaching job, Westfall decided to look for other positions and, for a variety of reasons, settled on one at Wayne State College.  

“My partner and I have a five-year-old, and it seemed like a really good community for a kid,” Westfall said.  

Westfall also came to Wayne State for its strong union and smaller size.  

“It’s a beautiful campus and its small enough to where if I need to go to someone’s office, I can just get up and be there in a few minutes,” he said.  

Westfall received his bachelor’s degree in psychology from Texas Tech University and went on to get his master’s and doctorate degrees from the University of Nevada Las Vegas.  

“I was living in Vegas and bartending when I took my first sociology class,” Westfall said. “It really resonated with what I had seen while bartending and watching people.” 

He also picked up an additional master’s degree in instructional technology from the University of Wyoming.  

“When I was working at the college I was at previously, we got free tuition at the University of Wyoming and because we are shifting more towards online teaching, I thought it would be beneficial,” Westfall said. 

A Majority of Westfall’s background is in social and evolutionary psychology.  

“I see them as sides of the same coin,” he said. “One looks at human nature and our genetic predispositions, and the other at social forces and how those compel us.” 

Despite the most common field in psychology being counseling, Westfall’s interest is focused entirely on teaching and conducting research.  

“I’m not a therapist or a counselor which is usually the assumption, and I am very much an active researcher,” Westfall said. “Once I get settled here, I want to get more active in research in this area. I don’t consider research to be a part of my past with my dissertation.” 

He has had over 20 different pieces of work published including an article published just this week in the Encyclopedia of Sexual Psychology and Behavior.  

“The article is looking at socio-sexuality, which is a wordy way of saying people’s willingness to engage in casual sex,” said Westfall. “It also talks about how the given “sex ratio” in a community can affect that kind of thing.” 

This semester, Westfall is teaching a few sections of Intro. to Psychology, Human Life Span and Social Psychology online.