STEUER, Faye B(rown) 1942-

PERSONAL:

Surname is pronounced "stoy-er"; born December 29, 1942, in Syracuse, NY; daughter of W. Dale (an agricultural expert) and Miriam (a teacher of French; maiden name, Barber) Brown; children: Evan R. Ethnicity: "WASP." Education: University of Rochester, B.A., 1964; Cornell University, M.D., 1966; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Ph.D., 1973; postdoctoral study at University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, 1975-76. Politics: Liberal. Religion: Unitarian-Universalist. Hobbies and other interests: Drawing.

ADDRESSES:

Home—963 Lakeview Dr., Mount Pleasant, SC 29464. Office—Department of Psychology, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC 29424; fax: 843-953-7151. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Associated Colleges of the Midwest, Chicago, IL, administrative and research assistant, 1967-68; Eastern Kentucky University, Richmond, assistant professor of psychology, 1972-74; College of Charleston, Charleston, SC, assistant professor, 1976-80, associate professor, 1980-95, professor of psychology, 1995—. University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill, visiting professor, 1974.

MEMBER:

American Psychological Association, American Psychological Society (charter member), Society for Research in Child Development, Tourette Syndrome Association, Charleston Area Psychological Association (president, 1986-87), Phi Kappa Phi, Psi Chi.

WRITINGS:

The Psychological Development of Children, Brooks/Cole (Pacific Grove, CA), 1994.

TV or No TV? A Primer on the Psychology of Television, University Press of America (Lanham, MD), 2002.

Author of instructional materials. Contributor to periodicals, including Journal of Experimental Child Psychology and Teaching of Psychology.

WORK IN PROGRESS:

Evaluating textbooks as works of scholarship.

SIDELIGHTS:

Faye B. Steuer told CA: "My writing grows out of two deeply-felt motives: the need to express myself in words and the desire to make the world a more humane and peaceful and rational place. In the books I have written to date, I have drawn upon my training as a scientist to synthesize many sources of information and articulate my vision of what that information means.

"The writing process for each of my books has involved, first of all, reading-reading-reading-reading-reading. I read book after book, article after article, mark them with hundreds of post-it notes so I can find my way back to the pith. Then, when I finally feel that I have a sensible, durable, up-to-date, factual grasp on the topic, I begin to write. Usually I begin by writing in longhand, in pencil. I write furiously, fearful that some of my knowledge might escape if I don't get it down right away. If adequate wording doesn't come, I push on. I make little marks that tell me where I need to work on wording. When the longhand section of a chapter begins to feel completed, I turn to my computer. This is my favorite part—the icing on the cake. I work slowly, trying to make every word and sentence say exactly what I intend. Often insights and unanticipated phrases come to me at this point. I think of examples and connections that may not have occurred to me earlier. I attempt to build it all into a comprehensible, clear, artful structure. While all the books and articles I've used are still on the floor around my desk, I prepare and double-check my entries to my bibliography. I'm a stickler for accuracy in citations.

"This process typically involves just one chapter, but in some cases may involve a subsection of a chapter. It can take days or weeks. I remember one time when it took months. Because I've always written under a certain amount of time pressure, I usually move directly from the completion of one chapter or section to the reading phase for the next. I like to write when I have no distractions. Both of my books were written during sabbatical leaves.

"I foresee that my retirement from teaching will provide time to do more writing. I like to draw as well, and can become just as obsessive about that as I have been about writing. I predict that I will write and illustrate a book some day. Whatever the case, my basic motives of self-expression and making the world a better place are not likely to change."