by Dr. Christopher Richmann, ATL Assistant Director Chemistry was the only class I ever earned less than a B in for my entire academic career. This means I am the one Neil Garg (Baylor’s Cherry Award recipient) is talking about when he mentions students who “hate Chemistry.” But like many others who have heard Neil […]
That Good Old Baylor Line: Baylor’s Vision for Teaching Development
by Lenore Wright, Director In the late 1970s, William F. “Bill” Cooper, Professor of Philosophy and Dean of Faculty Development, assisted by Elizabeth “Betsy” Vardaman, applied for and received a grant from the Lilly Foundation to pilot a faculty development program they named the Summer Teaching Institute.[1] Robert M. “Bob” Baird, Professor of Philosophy, convened […]
Called to Teach: To Give to My Students What Was Given to Me
by Dr. Michael D. Thomas, Professor of Spanish Rima VII (my translation), by Spanish Romantic poet, Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer (1836-1870) In a dark corner of the room, perhaps forgotten by its owner, the harp lies silent, covered with dust. How many notes sleep in its strings, like a bird that sleeps in a tree; […]
Out of the Cave and Into the Light
by Anne-Marie Schultz, Professor of Philosophy and Director of BIC In the middle of Plato’s grand thought experiment, The Republic, Socrates describes the relationship between the soul and the good to a group of eager listeners. He explains, “Every soul pursues the good and does whatever it does for its sake. It divines that the […]
Teaching and Training Baylor Lawyers: A Calling and an Honor
by Leah Witcher Jackson Teague, Associate Dean and Professor of Law “The practice of democracy is not passed down through the gene pool. It must be taught and learned anew by each generation of citizens.”[1] –Justice Sandra Day O’Connor When asked what makes Baylor so special that I would stay for the entirety of my […]
Subjective Objectives: Called to Student-Centered Teaching
by Helen Harris, Associate Professor of Social Work Much about academia is under scrutiny today. “Liberal” academics are accused of fomenting protest and lazy thinking. Tenured faculty are accused of taking their foot off the research/publication/teaching/contribution pedal and coasting to retirement. Christian religiously affiliated universities are accused of neglecting science and indoctrinating students. Non-sectarian universities […]
Called to Teach
by Barry Hankins, Professor of History “I was born to be a point guard; but not a very good one.” I wish I had written that line. It certainly sums up my college basketball career. But as you can see it is in quotation marks. It comes from one of my favorite authors, Pat Conroy. […]
Where They Sit: Thinking about the Lives of our Students
by Greg Garrett, Professor of English The other day I crowdsourced some thoughts on what the most impactful teaching looks like, and in sifting through about 40 responses, I heard all the usual suspects: enthusiasm for the subject, the ability to spark imagination and curiosity, the ability to make learning relevant for students. I suspect […]
Preparing Students for Today
by Dr. Christopher Richmann In Mary Rose O’Reilley’s wonderful little book, Radical Presence: Teaching as Contemplative Practice, she tells the story of having a student die on her. Nothing like death to put things into perspective. The moral of the story (if O’Reilley’s stories have morals) was not the carpe diem associated with “the unexpected […]