“I have a keen interest in facilitating professional development of teachers in higher education.”

Research focus: Visual Perception, Educational Management, Higher Education, Cognitive Psychology

Susan te Pas is Dean of University College Utrecht and Professor of Cognitive Psychology of Higher Education at the faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences of Utrecht University. Susan is chair advisory board of the Centre for Academic Teaching at Utrecht University. She’s a member of the Educational Council of the Netherlands.

Dean University College Utrecht

Te Pas is Dean of University College Utrecht. The College provides English-language Liberal Arts and Sciences undergraduate education. Founded in 1998 as the first university college in the Netherlands, it is part of Utrecht University. Students are encouraged to explore and design their individual curriculum cross-cutting Science, Social Sciences and Humanities, and to engage in extra-curricular activities.

Research focus on cognitive psychology and vision science

Te Pas’ research covers a wide range of topics within the domain of cognitive psychology and vision science. It includes topics such as perception of motion, shape, material properties, light fields, visual expertise and more recently educational psychology.

Interest in educational leadership

Te Pas has a keen interest in educational management and the development of educational leadership, specifically in the effects and effectiveness of selection processes in higher education and in facilitating professional development of teachers in higher education.

In the past she has been Vice Dean of Education at the faculty of social and behavioral sciences. She has recently supervised the Educational Leadership Programme at Eindhoven University of Technology and participated in an EUA thematic peer group on career paths in teaching. She has always had a strong interest in teaching and learning, and has taught courses in several bachelor and master programs such as Psychology, Physics, Artificial Intelligence, University College Utrecht and Neuroscience and Cognition. Susan holds a BKO, SKO and has participated in Educational leadership program in 2003-2004. In 2011 she became the first Teaching Fellow (old style) of the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences at Utrecht University.