Teaching
McGrath taught several courses popular among Ph.D. students at the University of Illinois. These included the introductory course, Research Methods in Social Psychology, taken by generations of graduate students; an introductory course to Research Topics in Social Psychology; a recurring seminar on Small Groups; a Professional Problems seminar in which students learned to write grant proposals, develop career strategies, review papers for journals, respond to reviews, and collaborate; a Post Positivism seminar exploring the underlying assumptions of "normal" science and alternative assumptions, values, and methods; and a seminar dedicated to Feminist Scholarship in Social Psychology.
McGrath was particularly successful as a mentor and adviser to graduate students. McGrath mentored dozens of students and young scholars throughout his career, including Richard Hackman, David Brinberg, Janice Kelly, David Harrison, Andrea Hollingshead, Deborah Gruenfeld, Holly Arrow, Linda Argote, Kathleen O'Connor, Kelly Henry, Jennifer Berdahl, William Altermatt, and Franziska Tschan. McGrath was unusually generous with his time and collaborations with students, who enjoyed not only his extensive knowledge of the field and incisive intellect but the way in which he respected them as equals and encouraged their own interests and ideas.
McGrath loved to write what he called "doggerel" and composed the following titled "Growing From Advisor Into Mentor":
In early years I thought my job
Was keeping standards high
'Twas rigor that I sought to teach
With criticism wry
But later on I learned anew
The truth of feedback's fate:
That many barrels of vinegar
Does not one thought create
That snips of sugar, sagely used
Can motivate anew
That praise, like yeast, can leaven
The intellectual brew
I also learned that students
(Like our kids, by now all grown)
Had lives to live, and dreams to dream
Relationships to hone
That they were folks who needed
Their autonomy to claim
That "study" was a part of life
But not the whole damn game
But most of all I came to see
That what they most required
Was the surge of capability
That self-confidence inspired.
So what I best could do for them
Was not to scorn nor flatter
But rather to convince them that
Their own ideas matter.
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