Michael Cunningham: Resiliency to ResiliencE
What empowers one to overcome seemingly insurmountable odds? That’s the question that Tulane psychology Professor Michael Cunningham seeks to answer in the African-American community.
Given the same environment and experiences, some kids do well and others don’t do so well. And in the wake of significant adversity, some perform better than expected. Why are some kids resilient and others vulnerable?
Post-Katrina New Orleans is the perfect laboratory for Cunningham’s research. He’s looking into factors that allowed some school age children to beat the odds of adversity and survive extremely well. According to Cunningham, the answer may lie in the power of three.
“Research shows that kids who do really well in school tend to have three really good teachers in a row. The performance of students who are taught by three bad teachers in a row can be negatively impacted,” he suggests.
Add another ingredient and Cunningham says he’s on to something. “Most resilient teenagers had at least one significant adult in their life-most of the time, it’s a parent, or coach, teacher or uncle - someone they could count on.”
Cunningham’s research is particularly important now, as the New Orleans public school system rebuilds itself from Hurricane Katrina. “I try to understand the experiences of school age children,” he says.
With a joint appointment in Psychology and African and African Diaspora Studies, Cunningham splits his teaching time between the two departments, teaching an array of classes from Introduction to African American Psychology to Black Youth: Developmental Perspectives.
Psychology is the most popular major at Tulane and Cunningham knows why. “We bring our research into the classroom and our faculty are top notch,” he boasts. He says Tulane is the place for students interested in a wide variety of psychology topics. “We offer hands-on research experience for students and our students have very good post-graduate placement rates.”
The Washington D.C. native has taught at Tulane for close to ten years now. He loves the food and jazz of New Orleans. And he’s happy to make a few recommendations on where to eat and hear music in the Big Easy.
