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Customer-centered education
As a UIC psychology major, Olga Reyes had a very specific idea of her career path.
“I had romantic notions of becoming a psychologist and hanging a shingle,
getting a leather couch and charging people megabucks per hour,” says Reyes,
now a UIC associate professor of psychology. 
That plan eventually faded. What remained was a sincere interest in human behavior, listening to people’s stories and trying to help them. Graduate school increased her interest in research and teaching.
“I became more excited about the potential of research to have much more of a wide-reaching impact,” says Reyes, who studies high-risk behaviors among urban minorities, particularly urban Latino youth at risk for dropping out of school.
Considered one of the most demanding teachers in the psychology department, Reyes hasn’t lost her perspective from the other side of the lectern. As an undergraduate she was reluctant to say, “I have no idea what you are talking about.”
“I try to make it easy for students to say that,” she says. “At the same time, I hold them to standards that a lot of them don’t like.”
Reyes offers her students support in and out of the classroom and extra-credit opportunities that always include writing assignments and essay exams.
“One of the greatest skills you can possibly walk away with is knowing how to write and knowing how to communicate your ideas on paper,” she says.
Reyes believes it’s important for students to offer feedback and act like consumers.
“Their course with me is a purchase that they and their parents are making. They are entitled to be satisfied with the purchase for whatever use they want.”
Reporting by Brian Flood, UIC News Bureau
Learn more>> UICNews article on Reyes