Ashton Baumgarner- Austrian ancestry; Dr. Ashton Baumgarner is an outwardly pleasant, kind, mild-mannered, and intelligent professor and polymath who teaches Emma Ngo's cognitive psychology course at Seton Hall University. Although he is usually easygoing and forgiving and offers leniency with some of his assignments, he is short-tempered and impatient at times, if somewhat neurotic when under stress, though such emotions are usually warranted. A graduate of Auburn University, he takes his subject matter very seriously and has high expectations for each of his pupils, encouraging maturity and responsibility in everyone who enrolls in his course. He often tries to challenge his students and sharpen their memory by compelling them to study for his class through his continuous pop quizzes and examinations, which could sometimes prove overwhelming to Emma with her lack of focus on the material being taught after experiencing a difficult time of loneliness and isolation in her life. Dr. Baumgarner has great metaphors in his head for explaining what life is, as his ideals in life become helpful in giving inspirational speeches and pep talks. He nevertheless tries to be receptive to his students and be available when needed and is a trusted resource among many of the psychology majors at the university. He is generally well-liked and respected by both the college's faculty and student body, being characterized by his charm and quick wit. His charisma is most evident when he is giving instruction to his students, who often claim he can easily simplify complicated material and explain concepts with clarity when approached in between classes.
Professor Baumgarner is also a composed person for the most part who tends to approach things through a neutral state of mind, although he has a habit of cracking old jokes and puns. Regardless of his usually bright and even-tempered demeanor, he was not above displaying favoritism among some of his students, a habit that appeared unfair and unethical to many of them after becoming aware of this behavior. He also tends to quickly form strong opinions and jump to conclusions about his pupils, causing him to act in a somewhat elitist fashion when boasting about his accomplishments and subconsciously look down upon students who failed to grasp his teachings as quickly as he'd anticipated. Emma's excessive attempts at trying to socialize and pursue empty one-sided friendships with other students in the class, especially males, made her deflect attention away from her studies and fail to maximize her potential when receiving mediocre grades on tests and assignments. This further prompted Professor Baumgarner's erroneous assumption that Emma was simply incompetent in learning his material and unmotivated as a student. Among his favorite students was the smart and diligent Rolando Escobedo, whom Emma secretly fancied and admired for his knowledgeability and deep comprehension of the subject matter being taught. In the meantime, another student named Robin Llanes made continuous attempts to ingratiate himself to the professor in an often affected, exaggerated way to earn a better grade in the course. Emma consistently proved to be a challenge to him however due to her struggles in effectively mastering the expected writing style for his courses.
She turns in a disastrous research paper upon enrolling in a second course of his, Experimental Psychology, culminating in her receiving a C average towards the end of the term. Her time spent enrolled in Dr. Baumgarner's courses proved to be strenuous for her, particularly as she tried to overcome her personal struggles with social anxiety and depression. She nonetheless gained a heightened perspective on the structuring of academics at the university and felt motivated to prove her professor's false perception of her to be incorrect. Dr. Baumgarner can be a little egotistical about his intelligence, believing he knows everything, or at the very least believing everything has a logical explanation. Whenever he is interacting with his parents however, he actually tends to appear more down-to-earth, but also more manipulative. He sometimes seems to deliberately leave out details that would make him look bad and can come across as trustworthy despite having hidden, self-serving motives. His occasionally amiable attitude towards Emma in the end stems from sympathy, as he understands what it is like to live with shame about who you are. Emma vowed to succeed in her future psychology courses, and Dr. Baumgarner tried to balance married life with his wife Brigitte in the meantime. She was a post-doctoral fellow with aspirations of working in psychological research, with new job opportunities as he worked sporadically. He taught at the university and conducted research himself at a public health science center in Buffalo and normally wore smart casual attire and is around average height and build at 5 ft. 8. He has short blond hair and a receding hairline, along with steel blue eyes and a fair complexion, and he has contemplated getting veneers on his teeth.
Dr. Baumgarner speaks fluent Spanish and inserts "muy bien", the equivalent Spanish words to "very good", into his sentences when speaking the language. He loves king cake, has tried venison meat, and dreams of going visiting Salzburg in Austria if he ever gets the chance, and he is a regular at Specs and contains many Les Misérables posters in his office. His teaching experience includes traditional lectures and distance learning, which he administers through online & hybrid courses. He previously played padel with a Hispanic friend of his in Tijuana during a trip to Mexico and has mixed views in regards to ICE. Dr. Baumgarner is a smoker who routinely purchases Marlboro Light 100s, although he has set a goal for himself to quit this bad habit once and for all by using nicotine patches. He is shown to be living in a craftsman bungalow in the South and enjoys spelunking in his spare time, and he has a pet Corgi. He has likewise hiked up Enchanted Rock and visited Natural Bridge Caverns and the Comal River in Texas multiple times, as he has a godfather who resides in the state. He has also advocated against Tik Tok and considers the app to be "a cancer of society", in addition to encouraging literacy among the current youth, supporting capitalism, and believing in having access to guns for self-protection. Dr. Baumgarner has won several awards over the course of his career, which include the Psychology Departmental Nominee for President's Distinguished Teaching 2017. He has also received the Auburn University College of Liberal Arts Graduate Teaching Assistant Award 2014 and went to the Department of Psychology 18th Annual Research and Teaching Festival in 2013.
He later got the First Place Poster Award in Cognitive and Behavioral Sciences, as well as the Cognitive and Behavioral Sciences Research Enhancement Award. He is precise in virtually everything that he does and checks his email regularly Monday – Friday, telling his pupils that he will generally respond within 24 hours. Dr. Baumgarner suddenly faces a lawsuit at his university when a student alleges that he made an inappropriate comment regarding Palestinian women and the ongoing Israel-Hamas War. He is suspended from his teaching duties until the matter is fully resolved, and it is ultimately discovered that there is no evidence to the claims that were made. He still transfers to the University of Alabama in his home state so that he can be closer to his parents, who live in Montgomery and enjoys sprinting, as well as Abbott Elementary and Parks and Recreation. He also listens to songs in his spare time, with his favorite musicians being Lionel Richie and Celine Dion, in addition to his liking the muffuletta sandwich from Schlotzsky's and driving a Ford Edge. Dr. Baumgarner is quite interested in topics regarding the trade-offs between "green growth" versus degrowth, as well as the necessity of rewilding land. He also looks into the ethics of genetic health modification and human cloning, and he intends to donate his body to science when he dies. He admitted that he had contemplated earning his Psy.D but always felt more at home collaborating with research coordinators instead. He is in a much better place after 10 years have passed and Emma is entering her early 30s, and he has a son by then whom has his mind set on becoming a prosthetist when he grows up. ENTJ 3w4
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