Meet the Professor
Dr. James B. Maas
Formal Biography
Dr. James B.
Maas is Professor and past 
Chairman
of Psychology, the Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellow, and a member of the
graduate fields of Education and Communication Arts at Cornell University.
For ten years he served as Special Assistant to the Vice President for Public
Affairs and is the director of Cornell's Psychology Film Unit. He received
his B.A. from Williams College and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Cornell. Each fall
he teaches introductory psychology to 1,600 students in the world's largest
single lecture class, and conducts research on the psychophysiology of sleep,
leadership, and innovative teaching methods.
Dr. Maas serves
as a speaker and/or management cons
ultantfor several major organizations,
including the Young President's Organization (YPO), Eastman Kodak, IBM, BBC-TV,
the American Accounting Association, Caterpillar Tractor, Ernst & Young,
Cunard and Royal Cruise Lines, Pepsi Cola, Pizza Hut International, Seagrams,
Simmons, Marriott, and the Exxon, MacArthur and Annenberg Foundations. He
has been
a long-standing member of the faculty of IBM's Advanced Management School.
Dr. Maas is often quoted in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and
USA TODAY. He appears frequently on national television on programs,
such as NBC Nightly News, Prime Time Live, CBS This Morning, Good Morning
America, Today, ABC'S 20/20, The View, and the Oprah Winfrey Show.
Dr. Maas is a noted filmmaker who has produced nine national television specials for PBS in this country, for the BBC in England, the CBC in Canada, and for Dutch, Danish and Swedish National Television. His films for such organizations as the National Geographic Society, General Motors, Exxon,Upjohn, Ciba-Geigy, Metropolitan Life and the United States Department of Transportation have won 42 major film festivals. He is author of many instructional texts and teaching aids, including a slide series that has been adopted by more than 1,800 colleges and universities worldwide.
Dr. Maas has also produced many award-winning corporate
informational brochures and annual reports. He is the author of the New York Times Best Seller, Power Sleep,
published by Random House and HarperCollins, and translated into ten
langauges.
His new children's bedtime story about sleep, Remmy
and
the Brain Train,
is designed to educate young readers (and their parents) about the importance
of good sleep and how to establish good sleep habits that will last a lifetime.
The book is accompanied by a read-along, sing-along CD. Check out the voice
of Dr. Zeez! Sound familiar?
Dr. Maas has held a Fulbright Senior Professorship to Sweden, has been a visiting professor at Stanford University and past-president of the American Psychological Association's Division on Teaching. He received the Clark Award for Distinguished Teaching at Cornell, and is the recipient of the American Psychological Association's Distinguished Teaching Award.
Here's the more personal stuff...
I have taught
Psych. 101 at Cornell for 38 years and have had the pleasu
re of teaching
more than 50,000 Cornellians. Each fall I look forward to meeting new and
enthusiastic students and sharing with them the excitement of the field of
psychology.
I am married to Nancy Neaher Maas, a professional artist. Nancy has degrees from Smith, Harvard and Stanford and specializes in African and pre-Columbian art. Check out her website: http://www.nancymaas.com.
We have two sons, Daniel (26) and Justin (24), a black lab retriever (Ruger) and a yellow lab retriever (Charle).
After receiving
perfect SAT scores as a 14 yr. old, Dan Maasdecided to skip 11th and 12th
grade and went to Cornell, where he graduated as a Presidential 
Research
Fellow, Merrill Scholar and College Scholar in Arts & Sciences. He is
now 25 and specializes in computer graphics film animations, speaks Chinese,
and is president of Digital Cinema.(check out http://www.dcine.com/).
He completed a NASA grant to model the Year 2003 Mission to Mars, has produced
an IMAX film for Disney (Roving Mars), and has been nominated for two Emmy's
for hisPBS NOVA specials on the exploration of Mars. In 2007 he was nominated
for an Academy Award. He presently resides in Taipei, Taiwan.
J
Justin Maas (24) is a graduate of Cornell's College of Human Ecology.
He is a dedicated aviator, having flown since he was 14 years old. Justin
holds a commercial pilot certificate and is currently a first officer with
a commercial airline, flying the 50 passenger 2 engine CRJ-200 jets.
I
Ruger and Charle
I was born in Detroit, Michigan, attended Cranbrook School, Williams College and took my Ph.D. at Cornell, majoring in industrial and organizational psychology, with a minor in advertising in the business school. I worked for Eastman Kodak for five summers during graduate school-- thus my training in photography and filmmaking.
When not focusing on my prime interest, Nancy and the boys, I spend time on my hobbies - flying, sailing, tennis and golf ( I'm always happy to play with interested students at Cornell's great golf course). I am also the faculty adviser to the Men's Varsity Hockey Team, the Men's Varsity Golf Team and the Women's Golf Club Team. Nancy and I have been advisers to dormitories, sororities and fraternities. Our family enjoys such interactions and we attend several student dinners each year. We spend summers in northern Michigan, where the sailing and golf are fabulous!
Make sure you
say hello to me and my family whenever you see us. We enjoy getting to know
you!
Meet the Course Teaching Assistant
Major: Possibily Psychology and Anthropology Related Courses: Psychology
101, Psychology 347- Visual Communication. Cornell Related Activities: Cornell
Dancesport Team,
Freshman Orientation Leader for '11, Kappa Alpha Theta sorority. Favorites:
Dancing, traveling, concerts, basketball, hiking, and goofing around with
friends. In the future: I plan to attend graduate school and work internationally.
Feel free to contact me with any questions at ajm228@cornell.edu
Katharine (Katie) Post '09 Co-Head Tutor Major: Psychology and Economics,
Psychology Related Courses: Psychology 101, Intro to Social Psych, Cognitive
Psychology, 
The
Psychology of Emotion, Psychology of Visual Communication. Cornell Related
Activities: Cornell Alpine Ski Team, Pi Beta Phi Sorority. Favorite Activities:
I love to travel and spent the summer in Dublin, Ireland taking classes. I
also love spending time with friends and family, as well as playing sports,
and of course skiing. As for the future, I still dont know, I'm thinking about
going into business. Feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns
you have at any time! kcp7@cornell.edu
Meet the Course Administrator
I have
been the course administrator for psychology 101 since t
he summer of 1987. Although this part of my position in the Psychology
Department is often challenging, it is also very exciting and rewarding. I
received a bachelors degree in psychology from The State University of New
York at Oswego. I am
married to John Durbin, who is also employeed at Cornell. We have two wonderful
daughters, Jenna, 21 years old and Caitlyn, 18 years old. When I am not frantically
coordinating Psychology 101, I enjoy spending time with my husband and daughters,
camping and gardening.
I'm available
to answer your questions regarding the course so stop by, call or e-mail me!
e-mail: cld1@cornell.edu
Phone: 255-6266
Office: 208 Uris Hall