From 2017:

A few days ago I had the good fortune to chat (via Skype) with advanced undergraduate students at Brooklyn College. Our topic was “parapsychology.” The gifted and nimble instructor of Psych 3585 was LeAnne Flaherty, who was a student in that same class the last time I was invited (by my genius brother-in-law Frank Grasso).

It is such a good class and important topic to study and discuss.

The syllabus says, “Students in parapsychology will learn and practice the concepts and methods of critical thinking used in the science of psychology. Parapsychology is a branch of empirical psychology that has made controversial and not widely accepted claims about the nature of the human mind and human mental abilities. … Through the critical examination of the peer-reviewed parapsychology literature and lectures on the history and methods of parapsychology, students will develop the background knowledge and use skills psychological scientists and scholars use to judge the evidence for extraordinary scientific claims.”

This is a superb way to teach some of the most important things you need to learn at university: critical thinking, the scientific method, and intelligently and ethically communicating findings and argument across disciplines and cultures. …

Brooklyn College knows how to do it right. Thank you to Leanne Flaherty for the invitation and to her students for being so involved and amazing.

LeAnne passed away a few weeks ago. Her friend Daniella wrote on the GoFundMe page she set up for LeAnne: “We all loved Lea so much and will miss her terribly. Let’s carry on her spirit of love, kindness, and silliness in our hearts as a way to keep part of her with us, and to help navigate a world that can be so unfair and difficult.”

I found LeAnne to be a charming and generous and truly friendly person – a terrific colleague, too. I liked her very much. And I could see how much her students loved and admired her.

She was still young. This really hurts.