Dr. Price, Clinical Assistant Professor at Loyola University Chicago's School of Continuing and Professional Studies & Author with Simon & Schuster and Penguin Random House, graduated from OSU with a BA in Psychology and Political Science in 2009 and from Loyola University Chicago with an Applied Social Psychology PhD. During their time at OSU, they volunteered in several psychology research labs, developing their research and writing skills. Devon continued building on these skills in graduate school and secured a Postdoctoral Researcher position studying intellectual humility after graduation. After teaching and researching as an adjunct for several years, they secured the full-time faculty position at Loyola.

Even before undergrad, Devon was passionate about writing. “I blogged in relative obscurity on Tumblr, Medium, and other platforms for over 15 years. Eventually one of my blog posts went viral in 2018 (it's titled Laziness Does Not Exist; as of right now it has over 3 million views). An agent approached me asking if I wanted to make it into a book. That began my career as an author.” Devon states they still receive emails on a daily basis from people who have read the article and developed an entirely new self-concept. Per Devon, the book version of Laziness Does Not Exist is recommended by therapists to their patients to help these patients differentiate between “laziness” and a lack of support in a culture of overworking.

In their current work, Devon splits time between writing and teaching. To make this balance work, Devon blocks 2-3 hours every morning on their calendar to devote to writing. The remainder of the day is spent meeting with students, interviewing with the press or delivering workshops, and attending department meetings. A work-life balance is incredibly important to Devon, and they try to end their day by 3:30pm, unless committed to an evening event.

Devon’s advice to current undergraduate students interested in a career in academia or writing? “You have to have skills that will transfer to a variety of fields, because the job market is forever changing. Data science skills are really valuable, and I believe will remain so for a long time -- learn Python, learn R, learn how to work with big data sets. Communication skills are everything. Science should be for everyone: Being a good teacher, collaborator, employee, scientist -- it all comes down to being able to translate complex things into language that is both simple and clear, and really precise. So always practice communicating, and not just communicating with other psychologists, but the public at large.”

Photo Credit: Collin Quinn Rice