Interview with Alumnus, Mr George Pavlidis

Enjoy the “Interview with Alumni” series starting with our alumnus & lecturer Mr George Pavlidis. Mr. Pavlidis teaches Introduction to Psychology, Psychology of Ageing, and Academic and Transferable Skills for the Psychology Department at CITY College.

Q: What is on your bookshelf?

A: A lot of psychology books; books from people who are introduced as contemporary philosophers, many that deal with existential issues.
I enjoy reading authors like Kazantzakis, Max Weber, a little bit of Nietzsche.
Now I’m adding to my collection some books about music, such as works for piano, theory of music etc.

Q: Who are you heroes?

A: My heroes are rarely famous people; they are usually ordinary people that I admire for curtain qualities. An older couple that open their home’s door to help refuges in Eidomeni, for example. I’m someone that rarely idolizes celebrities or people that are well known. My heroes are usually EVERYDAY people.

Q: What quote do you live by?

A: “BECOME WHO YOU ARE” [showing tattoo…]
It was first said by Pindar, later adopted by Epicurus, the basis of Socrates philosophy of “know who you are”. It was quite redundant for many years until Schopenhauer used it for his argumentation on life and death, then Nietzsche, and then Freud adopted it from the psychoanalytic perspective. It was also used by Adler; he interpreted it in this way: “you have to become the best version of you”. I do not like this interpretation! Lately it was discussed by Kazantzakis and Irvin D. Yalom stressing the idea of living life to the fullest; as Kazantzakis said: “Leave death nothing but a burned out castle”. I like this one!

Q: What is the best gift you’ve ever received?

A: I’m really bad at receiving gifts: REALLY BAD, … really bad at receiving compliments. I shouldn’t, as this is really unfair to those who try to be nice to me, but I’m [smiling].
Because I feel really uncomfortable in these occasions, I have troubles recalling what the best gift I have ever received is.
If I had to use a general existential tense I would say that the best gift I have received is the fact is higher education. I feel really fortunate for having had the opportunity to do that.

Q: What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you?

A: Many things [smiling], but I wouldn’t like to share. I think many people would be surprised that deep down I’m pretty insecure and shy [laughing]. Also, that although I have been a professional basketball player, I rarely watch basketball games.

Q: Who was your favorite teacher when you were a CITY College student?

A: Most of the lecturers that I had were great. I cannot pick one, it would be unfair.

Q: How did you manage to survive in all this “madness” [courseworks, modules, exams…]?

A: I never felt that I had to survive as I enjoyed the whole process of studying; it was really fun for me. I was engaged in a lot of extracurricular activities. Though, I aimed to study systematically, and I made sure that I had some free time for me.
That took a lot of discipline! Other than that, I didn’t have any BIG secret!

Q: Have you ever had a resit? (Tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth :))

A: No, actually, far from it. One time […we are allowed to be late half an hour in our exams, if we came 35 minutes late, then we were not allowed to take part].
It was freezing and the brakes of my motorbike froze so I used my bicycle from the place I live [which is pretty far from here by bicycle], something that took me an hour … but I made it for the exam. That was the closest to the resit. [smiling]
If people have the choice, they should do everything they can in order not to resit. If they tried and still had to resit, it is OK. Though, I can’t imagine myself having to read during the summertime in order to give exams in September. This is tough!

Q: What is the worst mark you’ve received in a test?

A: I think it was my first year of studies, it was something like 56 or 54 (subject: English), I can’t remember worse than that.
Actually, grades never bother me a lot; I wasn’t good at English, though I was happy that I had the chance to improve my grades in the respective classes.

Q: Have you ever cheated during exams?

A: No, Never!
I don’t like cheating generally, not even during the exams.
I don’t like seeing people doing that, I don’t like people asking me to participate on that, I’m a real GEEK in this fashion! [laughing]

Q: What was the most productive class/book that you took when you were a CITY College student?

A: “Introduction to Psychology” and I still love reading it.

Q: How did you become interested in teaching your subject?

A: Interesting question! [smiling]
I have never imagined myself being a lecturer. During my studies my fellow students told me that I was really good at the assignments where we had to present something (they were telling me “You should be a lecturer”). In addition, when people around me were asking “What are you studying?”, I was keen to let them know, and I was doing it in such a way that they end up saying “Wow, you can really make someone understand the subject, you should be a lecturer”.
So being a lecturer came up as a career choice after my bachelor studies and during my PhD; given the fact that I also enjoy teaching.
In other words, initially I was not motivated or interested to become a lecturer … it just happened. And I really like it!

Q: What do you know now that you wished you knew when you were a CITY College student?

A: The learning experience in this Faculty is amazing. I was not sure about that when I was a student. Then, a panel of scholars from UK came to evaluate the Business Administration Department and I was called as a student to be a member of this panel. The things I heard from people evaluating the department were amazing. Any doubts I had were cast away!
So now, as a lecturer, I understand fully the effort put for students to receive the education they receive in the International Faculty; If I knew that before, as a student, I would not dear to make even one complain; well, maybe one or two, but I would make sure to do that in a very constructive way. I wish I knew back then what amount of effort lecturers put in order to ensure the quality of education and the student experience. It is amazing. I feel very fortunate to have been a student here.