Sparking Your Relationship: Stevenson Psychology Professor Pens Baltimore Sun Op-Ed Offering Romantic Advice

In an op-ed published in The Baltimore Sun, a Stevenson University faculty member is offering up advice for couples looking to spark their relationship .

D. Ryan Schurtz, Assistant Professor of Psychology, composed an op-ed suggesting methods—techniques he absorbed through research and personal experience—aimed at strengthening the bond between two loved ones.

One of those recommendations? Writing love letters.

But I think I have found another way to communicate to my wife what she means to me and to remind her that I do not take her for granted. I have started to write her love letters.

Writing love letters is a dying art. Very few of my students write love letters or receive them with any level of regularity, they tell me. They instead text message or Facebook their lovers brief notes and receive nearly instantaneous replies. They communicate in the form of a written conversation — not the thoughtful, organized, reflective manner that good love letters have. My research team and I have just begun to look at the benefits of reading love letters, but one of my students, Ashley Sauerwein, has done a study that suggests that the benefits of writing love letters is remarkable.

Read the full op-ed on The Baltimore Sun website.

For more information on Stevenson’s Psychology program, visit stevenson.edu.

Stevenson University, known for its distinctive career focus, is the third-largest independent university in Maryland with more than 4,200 students pursuing bachelor’s, master’s, and adult bachelor’s programs at locations in Stevenson and Owings Mills.