Faculty Spotlight on Nicole McNichols

Nicole McNichols

Nicole K. McNichols is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Psychology at the University of Washington in Seattle, where she also received her Ph.D. in Social Psychology in 2009. Dr. McNichols teaches the largest and most popular undergraduate course at UW, PSYCH 210 – The Diversity of Human Sexuality. In her class, she uses a sex-positive approach on topics including anatomy, sex and gender, sexual behavior, and sexual relationships and she recently wrote her own textbook for the course titled A Critical Introduction to Human Sexuality that provides a modern, comprehensive and research-based exploration of human sexuality that incorporates real life perspectives on contemporary issues.   The enrollment for PSYCH 210 is consistently at 720 students, the maximum capacity of Kane Hall 130 (the largest classroom on campus). She has taught this undergraduate course every quarter for the last five years with over two thousand enrolled students each year!  Her current research focuses on teaching methods designed for human sexuality and in 2019 she delivered a Ted Talk entitled "Students on Top: A Guide to 21st Century Sex Education."  Dr. McNichols has been a proponent of adopting and developing active learning techniques and using technology to bring scientific subject matter to life in the classroom. Dr. McNichols is an active member of a variety of societies for teaching human sexuality and is a three-time Distinguished Teaching Award Nominee.