The Professor of the Year Award: A preview of the nominees
Professor David Damm is one of the professors nominated for Professor of the Year. Photo by Megan Brandrup
By Megan Brandrup
Every year, the Alpha Chi Honor Society selects professors that best represent the morals and values of the Waldorf University name. The professors are also selected by their impression on students. Once these candidates have been selected, their names are sent to everyone in the school to pick the Professor of the year. Below are profiles of each of the POTY nominees and how they feel about being nominated for this great honor.
Professor David Damm
Q: How does it feel to be nominated for professor of the year?
A: It’s a real honor to be nominated by the students. There are a lot of really good professors at Waldorf and many more of them deserve this honor.
Q: What would you say to those students who nominated you?
A: Thank you for thinking of me!
Q: What is your number one goal as an educator?
A: My number one goal is to help each student reach his or her potential.
Q: Who was your biggest influence growing up? Who inspired you to become a teacher?
A: I was inspired by the great teachers I had in high school and college. There were always those teachers who not only taught me a lot but also made learning fun. I wanted to do my best for those professors because I knew they cared about both my education and me. I try to do that today with my Waldorf students.
Q: What is the legacy you hope to leave behind at Waldorf University?
A: I’d like to be remembered as someone who made a difference in people’s lives: someone who cared about them not only as students but also as people.
Professor Mike Gatlin
Q: How does it feel to be nominated for professor of the year?
A: It feels great to be nominated for professor of the year. The other nominees are phenomenal educators that have built outstanding reputations during their time here at Waldorf and it is an honor for me to be mentioned in the same group as them.
Q: What would you say to those students who nominated you?
A: I would say “thank you” to the students who nominated me. I love teaching at Waldorf and I can only hope to play a small role in the overall educational experience that the students receive here. To get nominated by some of the students is very humbling and I am appreciative of the time, energy, and effort they put forth that makes it such an enjoyable place for me to come to work and teach every day.
Q:What is your number one goal as an educator?
A: It sounds cliche but my number one goal as an educator is to positively impact the current college experience and future quality of life of the students that I have in class. I really enjoy watching students grow personally, professionally, socially, and educationally throughout their time here at Waldorf and the corresponding relationships that I am able to develop are extremely valuable to me. I realize that the individual classes I teach are just a small piece of the overall puzzle that is filled with other courses, athletics, fine arts, clubs, etc. – and I really want the students to know that I am supportive of them in all their endeavors. I just want to play a role in the well-rounded educational experience that vigorously prepares the students to enter the world after college and work hard to attain the life that will make them happy.
Q: Who was your biggest influence growing up? Who inspired you to become a teacher?
A: The biggest influence I had growing up and the person who inspired me to become a teacher was a former coach of mine. At the time we met, I was in a completely different place in my life. Through a number of different experiences and discussions he made my educational, personal, and social responsibilities so perfectly clear to me that it quite simply changed my life. It became obvious to me that when I combined the areas in which I was most interested in life with the setting in which I could have a positive impact, teaching was an easy choice for me. Ultimately, he provided the experience and guidance that led me to where I am today and was by far and away the most influential person in my life to date.
Q: What is the legacy you hope to leave behind at Waldorf University?
A: As far as legacy is concerned, it is pretty simple to me. I would just like to be known as someone who truly cared about the happiness and success of the students I have in class. I want to be known as someone who is honest, reliable, trustworthy and worked hard to put students in a situation to enjoy their time in college and succeed once they leave. I want students to look back and reflect positively on their time in college and be proud of the fact that they went to Waldorf because they are now better for it.
Professor Tiffany Olson
Q: How does it feel to be nominated for professor of the year?
A: It feels wonderful! I am greatly honored to be nominated for professor of the year.
Q: What would you say to those students who nominated you?
A: I would like to say a huge thank you to the students who nominated me. It is an immense honor. There is nothing more rewarding than the feeling that the students I work with think I am doing my job well enough to nominate me for such a distinguished honor.
Q: What is your number one goal as an educator?
A: My number one goal is to create good visual communicators. My responsibility in helping students to become these good visual communicators is to provide them with the knowledge in learning the tools and techniques, but most importantly teaching them to be critical thinkers of visual communication. Much of the information we take in on a daily bases is visual in nature, and I want students to be aware of the importance of how that information is expressed. Understanding the problem, knowing the audience and producing an effective visual solution is vital.
Q:Who was your biggest influence growing up? Who inspired you to become a teacher?
A: There have been a lot of influences in my life, but the biggest and the most consistent influence would have to be my mom. My mom is an artist and from as soon as I can remember she was teaching me about art. That influence lead me into an artist career as well, first as a graphic designer and then as a Communications professor.
There was no single individual who inspired me to become a professor, but a combination of amazing individuals who have helped me on my journey. Obviously, my mom (who I just mentioned) played a big role in inspiring me, but other teachers and professors, some of whom work here at Waldorf, Dr. Larry Hill (my middle school history teacher and driver’s ed instructor) and Professor Sheila Willms (my middle school art teacher) have provided mentorship that inspired and continues to inspire me to be a professor.
Q: What is the legacy you hope to leave behind at Waldorf University?
A: I just hope that I am remembered as a good professor who truly cares about students.
Professor Sheila Williams
Q: How does it feel to be nominated for professor of the year?
A: It is an honor, especially when I see the names of the other nominees. There are so many amazing teachers here at Waldorf.
Q: What would you say to those students who nominated you?
A: I would like to say thanks, it’s a privilege to teach them. They make teaching so much fun and I am grateful to know each and every one of them. I get chills when I think about the impact that each of them will have on our world, as they go forth and teach their future students. I’ve struggled in recent years, since my diagnoses with spasmodic dysphonia (a neurological voice disorder) and I sometimes wonder if it gets in the way of their learning, so I’m grateful that at least one of my students thinks I’m worthy. They know that I’m not ‘perfect’ and they know that I just try my best to ‘model’ good teaching each day; in spite of my imperfections.
Q: What is your number one goal as an educator?
A: My goal as an educator is to do whatever I can to foster learning in students! That means building relationships and holding high expectations, while creating the conditions that require them to do the ‘thinking’ and ‘digging’. They must construct meaning for themselves in order to truly learn. There are so many good research-based strategies for teachers to use and I need to model as many as possible. They will need to use them one day with their future students. Oops! I guess that is more than one goal, but there is no one ‘silver bullet’ in education. We have to do many things to the best of our ability!
Q: Who was your biggest influence growing up? Who inspired you to become a teacher?
A: Both of my grandmothers were teachers and I fell in love with the stories that they told me about teaching in one-room schoolhouses. Their faces would light up when they spoke about their students. They passed their love of education on to my parents, who always held teachers in very high regard. Honestly, I aspired to be an artist, but my father felt very strongly about my completing a teaching degree in art. In my early career I wrestled between being an artist and being a teacher. After graduating from college, I spent a good deal of time painting; working by myself in my studio. Although, I loved it very much, something was missing (for me anyway). I found that teaching was where “my deep gladness, met the world’s deep hunger” (to quote Prof. Steve Smith). Embarking on that ‘teaching’ journey led me eventually to Waldorf!
Q: What is the legacy you hope to leave behind at Waldorf University?
A: I don’t think much about a legacy left with Waldorf University, but I indeed think daily about the legacy that our graduates will leave in the world. Teachers make an indelible impact on their students and ultimately the world. I love staying connected with our graduates and seeing how they are changing our world, one student at a time.
Overall, candidates expressed gratitude and appreciated being nominated. The winner will be announced on April 6, during Waldorf University’s annual honors day.
