When Michael Levine teaches Abnormal Psychology, he knows that his students are eager to learn about the fascinating, if disturbing, varieties and categories of mental disorders. But early in the course, he pushes the class to grapple with the categories themselves. Who creates the official labels of modern psychiatry? How have these labels changed over time? How have they helped, or stigmatized, patients? If we can't test for "panic disorder" with a blood sample or brain scan, then isn't our definition not so much a fixed truth as a complex judgment, dependent on changing cultural factors, even biases, along with clinical criteria?

Levine, who has taught psychology at Kenyon since 1979, tries to strike a balance in class between "covering the material" and digging deeper, so that students are aware of the assumptions underlying the "facts." This kind of awareness, vital in any field, is especially important in the field of mental disorders, including an area where Levine is recognized as a national expert: eating disorders and body image. Most recently, he received the Academy for Eating Disorders Public Service and Advocacy Award.

Levine is one of three psychologists--Linda Smolak and Sarah Murnen are the others--who have made Kenyon a hub of world-class research in this area. Prolific scholars, all three regularly collaborate with students on research projects and publish papers with students as coauthors. Their students have gone on to pursue internships and graduate work with other leading researchers throughout the country.

In addition to writing books and articles for professional journals, Levine often gives presentations at schools and writes for, or is quoted in, popular magazines on the subject of eating disorders. On campus, though, he is best known as a gifted, quietly witty teacher, one of the winners of the 2003 Trustee Teaching Excellence Awards. His students also learn that he is a lover of heavy-duty rock and roll, who admits--a grin spreading between his trademark sideburns--that he "bemoans the passing of the extended, self-indulgent guitar solo."

Levine pushes his students to question assumptions and appreciate complexity in part because he knows that his field is one where the authority which comes with knowledge can have profound consequences in the real world of public attitudes, government policy, and individual lives. "I'm well aware," Levine says, "that my students are future doctors, lawyers, CEOs, writers, and parents, not to mention psychologists, psychiatrists, and social workers. They will be making decisions."