Dr. Wang earned his baccalaureate from SUNY Brockport (1975) and his doctoral degree from Stony Brook University (1980). He joined UCF in 1986 after teaching in the University of Maryland’s European Division and the Virginia Military Institute. His research interests lie in the general experimental area of psychology with a focus on individual differences in learning, memory and forgetting and the effect mnemonic devices may have on these processes.
Dr. Wang earned several recognitions including three Teaching Incentive Awards and the Florence Denmark National Faculty Advisor’s Award. He was active within the discipline of psychology having served as Psi Chi Vice-President, Southeastern Region (2000-2004) and President of Psi Chi (2009-2010). For his efforts at promoting undergraduate education, he was elected Fellow of the American Psychological Association (Division 2).
While at UCF, Dr, Wang served in several administrative roles including Associate Chair of Psychology (1992-1995), Associate Dean (2001-2005), and then Dean The Burnett Honors College (2005-2017).
Research Areas
My research currently concerns the validation of the newly published psychometric survey instrument ENJOY which assesses an individual’s level of enjoyment for particular tasks. Factor analysis revealed that enjoyment has five components: pleasure, relatedness, competence, challenge, and engagement. Future research will determine how these components interact for particular types of individuals (e.g., students and employees) and the tasks that define their roles.