The following piece is authored by Alex Sterba ’12, a My Centre Life student blogger.
I don’t think many people question the quality of education here at Centre. It has been published ad nauseam, in the multiple rankings, statistics, and articles about the College. It is hard to see, though, the true awesomeness of Centre through nothing but numbers, statistics, and the word of an admissions flyer. What does it mean that we have some of the best faculty in the nation? Hopefully this story can put a personal and emotional spin on some of these accolades and numbers.
To preface this story, I am currently doing research for my Econometrics class for Dr. Johnson (Yeah, that jerk). I am running a statistical analysis on the income of PGA tour golfers, and what skills make them the most money (putting, driving, chipping etc.) In doing research for this project, I came across an interesting article.
It took me a few pages before it hit me. The light bulb went off in my head. HEY! I ACTUALLY KNOW THEM! When you are reading pages and pages of academic journals, names and authors quickly become forgettable, things you look up in order to do a works cited page. But when you can put a face to a name, and a personality to a paper, things get a lot more interesting. Knowing your professors are engaged in their profession, and engaged in their subject matter is a good feeling. They are passionate.
Take Dr. McAllister, for example. Sophomore year I took his Math ‘survey course,’ which spanned a number of topics. We walked into class the first day not knowing what our textbook was to be. To my surprise, I was handed our ‘textbook’ printed on normal average everyday paper, 3 hole punched, and placed in a binder for our convenience. Dr. McAllister AUTHORED our textbook that we were using for his class. And, since it hadn’t been published and he still owned the rights, we got our books for free. But what was more awesome than the price was the fact that the name on the front of our ‘textbook’ was recognizable. Knowing that our professor cared enough about math to write a book about math meant a lot to me. I knew that there was no one better who could teach that course. I tried harder in that math class than in any I have taken before or since. That first day of class, receiving our ‘textbook’ was definitely a reason for that.
I have read pieces about Christian Art by our own Dr. Jefferson. I have read about political theories from the pen of Dr. Hartmann-Mahmud. And let me tell you, those lectures, the ones focused on their own papers and articles, have been the most interesting of my Centre career. There is something about putting a face to a paper that is truly a great geeky, nerdy, awesome feeling.
This is what it means when the stats say all classes are taught by professors, 95% of whom have the highest degree in their field. Professors are teaching us undergrads subjects which they love, and have devoted their lives too. Many places save their ‘actual’ professors for their graduate programs, but in Centre’s alphabet, the letters T and A don’t even exist.
Now, I know there will be skeptics, who think that research must come at the student’s expense. Because, it is standard economics that the more time allotted to research, the less allotted to teaching. But I can tell you for certain that this research has not cut into our education. It has only enhanced it. Dr. Johnson finished a piece this summer after we had returned from London (Because EVERYONE knows that there are better things to do in London than model the PGA!). Dr. Jefferson routinely writes opinion pieces for the local newspaper. Instead of detracting from our education, his writing makes great forums for discussion, debate, and learning.
This is only a narrow list of what our professors do in their respective fields. There are many, many more cases like this that make learning at Centre more fun and effective. And it definitely makes learning more effective. I’ve skipped my fair share of readings over the years, but let me tell you, I have NEVER skipped one that had my professor’s name as the author!
