MOHAVE COUNTY – Cole and Sierra Stewart are instructors at Mohave Community College, they’re husband and wife, and doctoral candidates.
Together they strive to make sure their students leave class knowing the necessities to keep pursuing a degree in psychology. For the students who aren’t thinking of a career in psychology, the husband and wife team make sure those students understand how psychology is part of their everyday lives.
Although some married couples may not see working alongside each other every day as appealing, Cole and Sierra find it beneficial.
“We really complement each other especially in terms of our workflow. There are things that she is absolutely amazing at in terms of like designing a lot of the assignments, the lesson plans that she creates it meets the needs of all of our learners,” Cole said.
Together they help out one another to fill the areas the other is lacking. Sierra said Cole brings to the table his education background, and she brings her background in psychology.
“I think we really have this good Yin and Yang balance going on,” Sierra said. “We’re really fortunate and lucky to not only work together but grow professionally together.”
Cole is the college psychology program’s lead faculty member and primarily teaches at the Bullhead City Campus. Sierra is a psychology instructor at the Neal Campus-Kingman. They said they are planning to soon offer on ground psychology courses at the Lake Havasu City campus.
Together they teach various courses, such as introduction to psychology, human sexuality, abnormal psychology, behavioral statistics and introduction to personality. Completing all the required course work will earn students an associate degree in Social and Behavioral Science.
They gear topics discussed in their class so students can find how the relationship between psychology and everyday life intertwine. Cole said some of the topics in class may not relate to the career field students will enter, but can help them in life.
One of greatest components to the Social and Behavioral Science degree pathway is the externship opportunity students have with Southwest Behavioral Health and Services. Cole hopes the Social and Behavioral Science program develops to the point where students are able to get field experience.
As for how the couple met, “that was through mutual friends in college,” said Sierra. While Cole was attending Northern Arizona University and Sierra was in Tucson at University of Arizona, they made the long distance relationship work.
