My personal mission statement, for as long as I have been teaching here, has been:
I am here to elevate the reputation for good teaching of the Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering (MechSE) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Internally, the faculty of MechSE know that we are a great teaching department. Externally, the rest of the academic engineering community does not seem to realize (yet) that this is such a strength of ours—we are rightly known for our world-class research. But I accepted the job offer that MechSE gave me based on my knowledge that MechSE and the Grainger College of Engineering respect, empower, and reward good teaching. After all, I earned three degrees here [BS Engineering Mechanics, 2005; MS Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (TAM), 2007; PhD TAM, 2012]. As a student and a teacher, I have seen both sides of the instructional coin in MechSE. During graduate school I thrived as a teaching assistant (TA). I earned awards, including a teaching fellowship, for my teaching.
Upon graduation, I took a job as a post-doctoral research assistant at another university. My years spent at that university were wonderful overall. I learned a great deal about conducting research and managing a team of experimentalists, and I developed great relationships with the faculty and staff. But I also decided along the way that I wanted to pursue teaching for my career. Truthfully, I would have been happy to teach in the community college system, and I initially set my sights on that path. I was educated in that system myself and thought I would find purpose giving back to it.
But then I got my life’s call.
That is, I took a phone call from a 217 number in the summer of 2013 during a lunch break. It was the Associate Head of Undergraduate Programs in MechSE, telling me about a job opportunity that he knew would be a perfect fit for me: Visiting Lecturer and Laboratory Manager.
In the weeks preceding that call I had been considering options for my future. My dream teaching job, as I figured it, would have been a career at an elite 4-year engineering teaching school such as Harvey Mudd or Rose Hulman, a place where I would be surrounded and supported by elite, caring teachers. I never even considered an elite R1 research institution for a teaching career. This was a surprise.
Rather than accepting the job on the spot, I suppressed my excitement and did what one is supposed to do in such a moment. I consulted with my good and trusted friend for wise counsel. He also happened to be the chair of the department where I was doing my post-doc. I told him about the offer and he almost immediately countered with another job offer, another great opportunity coming with an element of surprise: a tenure-track position as an Assistant Professor of Aerospace Engineering.
A crossroad. How does one decide which way to go?
To stay, as my department chair explained, would be the obvious better option. To be a tenure-track professor would open such great opportunities for me. I would keep working on my research. My salary line would be much higher, with lots of room to grow. Assistant Professor… Associate Professor… Full Professor… Endowed Professor… Administration… So many possibilities. Big raises with each promotion. Prestige. Trips to conferences in cool cities. Meetings in Washington, DC. Respect.
To leave, as he also explained to me, would be to give up on the benefits that my extensive education had prepared for me. I would have no opportunities for advancement later in my career. My education would have been a waste. My earning potential would be kneecapped. In five or ten years I would look back contemptuously on my decision.
I didn’t make a snap decision that day. I considered my options more closely. I read the inner book of my heart. Teaching had always been my favorite aspect of engineering school. I’d had great instructors and TAs. I had been a great instructor and TA myself. To continue my work seeking excellence as an educator had to be a part of the rest of my career. Surely I could build on that legacy as an Assistant Professor, right?
Then I started asking faculty members about their experiences. A few themes arose. Multiple professors told me “If you are earning Fives on your evaluations (on a five-point scale), you are putting too much time into your teaching. Teaching cannot help you, it can only hurt you. Don’t get Twos or Threes. Aim for Fours.”
That did not sit well. Then another professor told me how to get Fours.
“Give them a homework break on the day you conduct your evaluations. Or indicate to them that their grades are all going to be a bit higher than they are expecting.”
My goodness. If that’s what it takes to get up to Fours, and this advice is being disseminated in such a cavalier manner, is this the culture in which I want to work? Would thriving at teaching put me at odds with my colleagues? Would other bad actor politics be lurking under the surface?
After another conversation with a professor who had left that university a few years prior for a job at one of the aforementioned elite teaching schools, a man who held similar ideals as mine regarding excellence in teaching, I had heard enough. I decided to take the job at Illinois. Something told me that everything would be alright, and then some.