Eloise Thomas began teaching at OTC in 2003 as an adjunct and became full-time in 2008. She teaches both online and seated classes. Currently, she is teaching Introduction to Psychology, Psychology of Personal Adjustment, and Psychology of Aging. She has also taught Lifespan Development and Research Methods. While still an adjunct at OTC, she tutored in the writing center and the tutoring center at Evangel University, eventually becoming the coordinator of the tutoring center.
Like many students at OTC, she returned to college at age 40 to finish her Associate’s degree at a community college in Nebraska. She then moved to Springfield in 1999 to earn her Bachelor’s degree in psychology and her Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology at Evangel University. She followed that with a Master’s in Marriage and Family Therapy from the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary. She then earned her PhD in General Psychology at Northcentral University with research on aging.
Eloise is passionate about lifelong learning and loves learning new things, as well as teaching others, whether in or out of the classroom. She takes every opportunity to present on topics concerning aging, especially age stereotypes and their impact. She also enjoys spending time with her two adult sons and her granddaughters.