Bio:
Nancy Hanna Nicastro, PhD, is an Assistant Teaching Professor with 30 years of undergraduate experience. Before joining the Drexel University faculty in January 2026, Dr. Nicastro taught a wide variety of courses (e.g., Introductory Psychology; Developmental Psychology; Learning Theory; Psychology of Friendship; Human Sexuality; Research Controversies in Psychology; Personality; Race, Class, and Gender; Scientific Writing; Social Psychology; Loss and Grief) at Hanover College, Rowan University, and most recently, Holy Family University. She enjoys the challenge of creating new courses and is interested in collaborative teaching both within and across academic disciplines.
Dr. Nicastro especially enjoys teaching courses that connect to her interests in identity development in young adults and the transition to adulthood. She is fascinated by the cultural milieu of Gen Z and Gen Alpha (social media, income disparity and pandemic timing in particular) and the role it plays in identity, relationships and expectations for adulthood. She frequently includes course assignments that allow students to reflect on aspects of their own identities.
Early in her career, Dr. Nicastro was honored to receive the National Education Association Excellence in the Academy Award in the Art of Teaching based on her teaching philosophy, which she continues to refine. Her philosophy focuses primarily on being approachable and developing positive relationships with students. She strives to create an atmosphere of respectful exchange and connection among students, encourages critical thinking with primary source readings and uses a variety of teaching methods to engage students both intellectually and personally. She also tries to connect course material to current culture and students’ real-life experiences to make the course information personally relevant.