I was totally clueless.
I was floored.
I can't say anything else, I was shocked and I'm rarely shocked.
I was a bit surprising obviously, you know, we were working on presentations.
I was teaching my class as usual.
I had actually arrived about four minutes late to class and my class was nice and quiet
and I shut the door and turn on the lights in the back and start passing back assignments.
I started lecturing and then they knocked on the door.
There was this loud banging on the door and I thought who is that?
Who is coming in there?
I thought they had the wrong roomÉ There was this whole crowd coming inÉ
There was the dean and the chair of my department and some graduate studentsÉ
They had balloons and there were cameras and there was a flashÉ
And I was looking, what's happening?
I was speechless.
I was overwhelmed, I was just really overwhelmed.
You don't get surprised like that very often, I was really taken back by it, pleasantly
so.
I was hoping it was the Publisher's Clearinghouse, but it wasn't, it was even better, it was
Great Teacher Award and I think that's just the best reward a teacher can get.
For me it's really kind of a Kodak moment.
I'll never forget it..
I love being a teacher and the fact that the UK Alumni Association recognizes and has recognized
for fifty years great teaching is really special I am very grateful for this award.
I know how many great teachers there are at the university.
What touched me the most the award is who it came from.
It means recognition, recognition from the people who count most, which is your students.
It felt great, to think of the amount of time and energy and initiative that went to it
on a part of the students and I was of course very appreciative of that
It means a lot to me, you know, I mean that's one of the reasons why I wanted to become
a teacher was to become a good teacher and maybe it just took me a little bit longer
than some of the other people but so in that sense it feels good I'm recognized for what
I hope I do well.
I think it's great that UK really emphasized the importance of not just sort of doing stuff
for research purposes but also doing the best you can to give back to the university, which
is first and foremost students that make up the university.
Teaching of course is essential.
A great university really needs great teachers that teaching should really be teaching, advising,
mentoring students should be at the core of our academic mission.
You help students understand why they want to study, what they want to study.
Then in the process if you get to know them a little bit through a couple of classes you'll
understand why they want to do that then you help them tweak it a little bit.
There are things you can very concretely do to help a student with that will make her
future more likely to be achievable.
Great teaching doesn't overshadow or discount any other activity, it in fact is the scaffolding
upon which all this other wonderful activities and accomplishments are built.
When you have the triad of teaching, clinical, and research and you can bring it all together
in a learning environment I think that kind of what has put UK ahead.
I teach because it's something that I can go to work and say that I love to do.
You spend so much time of your time at work, its kind of clichŽ but you have to love what
you do and I love what I do.
The idea of the university is just a fantastic element of what makes our society what it
is, the open exchange of ideas, the enshrinement of values where you can question people.
We admire the space that's been created in society for this kind of activity and engagement
and find it very stimulating, definitely really love what I do for a living.
I just always enjoyed doing it and students really keep you going.
The fact that I get a salary and benefits is icing on the cake because I get so much
satisfaction from the students themselves.
ItÕs the students that motivate you in knowing they are ambitious they want to learn.
It's seeing students succeed, you know, seeing students do well, seeing them getting a grant,
landing a great job seeing them getting something reading through the texts and asking questions
on their own, questions that don't have a quick and ready answer so that's really rewarding
to me.
It's fun to watch students learn, it's fun to watch students get it
I just love being on the scene when a student sort of gains an insight.
It's like the light bulb goes on you can tell that they really understand what you're trying
to get across.
It's really thrilling to be there as you see them gain in confidence and even competence.
There is a lot of satisfaction when you prove something in mathematics that nobody proved
before, that's really thrilling, that's very exciting and there's even more satisfaction
when you write that paper and you get it published you get it in a good journal and colleagues
write and say well that's a great paperÉbut nothing compares to when students after years
send you an email saying what you did back then, you know that really helped me and you
don't even remember what you didÉor when students say you gave me that little nudge
back then and this is what I'm doing now, and I'm really grateful for that and getting
those emails.
That stands out above all the papers. #####