Faculty Spotlight: Her Teaching Changes Lives, With a Sprinkle of Wizardry

To get straight to the point, Cynthia Tong changed Gavin Schuetz’s life.

It was 2023. Schuetz was a first-year student at the University of Virginia and enrolled in one of the associate professor of psychology’s statistics courses. It was one of UVA’s “Engagements” classes – custom-designed, bite-sized sessions that allow new students to sample different topics during half a semester, like a box of chocolates.

Schuetz arrived on Grounds from his home in Blacksburg with a plotline already laid out in his head. He would major in commerce. 

It didn’t stay that way for long, and that’s because of a unique opportunity Tong offered all her students.

Portrait of Gavin Schuetz

Gavin Schuetz is now double-majoring in commerce and statistics, adding the latter discipline because of Tong’s teaching. (Photo by Matt Riley, University Communications)

“It was an exploratory lab where you went around Charlottesville and visited various data science centers,” Schuetz recalled. “Through that, I got more exposure to the actual industry. That was when I decided to double major in commerce and stats.”

Schuetz said he was grateful to Tong for teaching him how interesting statistics is. 

The words “statistics” and “interesting” don’t often show up in the same sentence. 

That’s exactly the point Schuetz said he was trying to make. Tong excelled at drawing him in. “I think the passion that she has for it was a little bit contagious. Whenever I go into her class, even if the material wasn’t necessarily the most interesting thing to me at the time, she was always interested in talking about it, and I think that really rubbed off on me,” he said. “I started becoming more curious myself because of that.”

All-University Teaching Award Winner

Tong is one of the 2024 recipients of UVA’s prestigious All-University Teaching Awardsgiven each year to educators deemed “the most dedicated, passionate, creative, and equity-minded instructors who significantly and meaningfully contribute to the University’s teaching mission.”

Cynthia Tong, left, enjoys pizza with her students at Pi Napo Pizzeria, a new place on Jefferson Park Avenue.

Cynthia Tong, left, enjoys pizza with her students at Pi Napo Pizzeria, a new place on Jefferson Park Avenue. (Photo by Matt Riley, University Communications)

“Throughout the time I’ve known her, she has been an amazing professor,” associate professor of teaching in psychology Joey Meyer said. “She’s always known how to connect with her students. She knows how to discuss very complex topics, like Bayesian statistics and methodology,” which allows for more statistical predictions by incorporating previous work.

Meyer should know; before he was Tong’s colleague, he was her student. “I originally came into the University around 2013,” he said. “I knew her as a professor all the way from back when I was a graduate student, all the way through my current professorship career. And pretty much throughout the time I’ve known her, she has been an amazing professor.”

A Mother’s Influence

Tong was raised in Xi’an, China. Her mother, Xiaoxia, was a middle school math teacher. She taught Tong for three years, from seventh to ninth grade. There is no doubt, Tong said, her mother influenced her toward teaching quantitative psychology.

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“She was a very good teacher,” Tong said. “She really communicated all the concepts very clearly. Because I know some teachers, they know a lot,” but the teaching part is missing.

“It’s also important that you can communicate, work well with your students and deliver your knowledge to the students,” Tong said. “I think my mom really did a good job.” 

Tong’s work is being recognized beyond the University, where she is in her 11th year of teaching. She recently was awarded a grant from the Institute of Education Sciences to lead a three-year program training education researchers and graduate students how to analyze longitudinal data using Bayesian modeling. The grant is worth nearly $800,000.

“If you think my Engagements Bayesian course is like learning the basic spells at Hogwarts, this training is like the advanced magic and sorcery class!” she said.

Media Contact

Jane Kelly

University News Senior Associate Office of University Communications