During my tenure as Interim Associate Dean of Science and Wellness on South Campus, I created a seminar series in which I wanted to highlight the experiences of our science faculty. Each seminar, two professors of the same discipline gave a 20 minute presentation outlining their education and career paths. Students were then allowed to ask the professors questions.

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Reasoning for the development of this series was two-fold. In 2017, I was part of the first cohort of faculty to complete and receive a certificate for Effective College Instruction from the Association of College and University Educators (ACUE). One of the lessons challenged us to use the "Reciprocal Interview" strategy in which we allowed our students to ask us questions on the first day of class. The questions could be about anything of an appropriate nature. After employing that strategy, I noticed a higher respect and effort from my students that semester as they understood my reason and passion for teaching biology at Broward College. I felt that if other professors had a forum in which to share their experiences with students, they may also see a change in student engagement in their classroom.

 

The second reason for the Meet My Professor series was based on the fact that we all have interesting stories on how we came to teach at Broward College. Students often feel that if they do not succeed in one class in a semester, they will not get to where they want to be in life. I wanted the students to see that their career path is not always a clear cut one-way track. There are often a lot of detours until you reach the career path that fits. This series was well received by the students and the professors who presented as well.