Fears Of The Faculty

John Walkup
Professor Emeritus, Electrical Engineering
Texas Tech University
Faculty Commons Staff

[Sept. 5, 2010] –

“Fearing people is a dangerous trap, but trusting the Lord means safety.” Proverbs 29:25 (NLT).

Looking back on my years in the academy, I believe many times failure to mention our faith to our students and colleagues is because of fearing the possible consequences (e.g., rejection, ridicule, persecution).

Satan uses this to keep us quiet, to keep our “lights” well hidden from those desperately needing to hear the life-saving truth. We forget the crucial second half of the verse declaring that God is our ultimate source of safety and protection if we truly lean on Him.

Starting my career at Texas Tech I was convinced the Lord wanted me to give verbal witness in my department. My chairman, though active in his church, watched me intently. Previously some in the department inappropriately “preached” to students while neglecting classroom teaching and failing to demonstrate an interest in research.

Be High Quality, Or..

I knew my teaching and research had to be high quality or my witness would be essentially worthless. Yet, when I looked back on my undergraduate years at Dartmouth, I was grieved that I never knew any professors who identified themselves as followers of Christ. Did I want my colleagues and students to think that I was just “a good guy?” Definitely not! I felt that remaining silent would rob God of the glory due Him for any good fruit others saw in my life.

With that in mind, I did identify myself as a follower of Christ in each class that I taught for 27 years at Texas Tech. I recall that I prayed before each of those first class day sessions – specifically asking for boldness, humility, and protection.

I would tell the class I would take about five minutes to “introduce” myself, and then they could introduce themselves to their classmates. In that brief introduction (where I grew up, my colleges, my family, research interests, I included these sentences: “The big thing in my life occurred when I was in high school. I became a Christian. As important as electrical engineering is to me, my faith in Christ is even more important. If anyone wants to discuss Christianity with me outside of class, I’m available.”

Not One Complaint

By God’s grace I never heard a single complaint from my chairman or students during that time. I do know that some faculty colleagues and perhaps some of my students made comments about my being outspoken about my faith. My first chairman used to joke about me being good at “sticking my foot in my mouth,” though I may honestly have earned that moniker.

Did my simple declaration have an impact for God’s kingdom? Probably nothing else opened more doors for witnessing as those brief declarations of my faith. To illustrate, when I retired early to join Faculty Commons staff, the EE student honor society asked me to speak to them about what motivated me to do such a thing. This gave another opportunity to talk about my faith and what I hoped God would do in using me to encourage Christian faculty in subsequent years.

Have I found repeatedly that Proverbs 29:25 is true? Absolutely! Should we expect raised eyebrows and occasional criticism from some who learn we’re believers? Without a doubt.

But should that keep us silent about the greatest thing that’s ever happened to us?

© 2010 John Walkup

Photo of Canary Islands courtesy Francisco Sánchez- flickr.com

This Professor Is A ROFLcopter

Samuel E. Matteson
Physics
University of North Texas,


[August 29, 2010]—




I stared at the student comment I held in my hand and scratched my head with the other.

“This professor is a ROFLcopter,” it read.

I wondered what this obscure expression meant until I researched it on-line and found that a “ROFLcopter” is a text-speak superlative for someone who makes you laugh, as in “Rolling-On-Floor-Laughing-copter.” I was relieved by the interpretation, but the experience of reading a particular something that I did not understand jarred me and then inspired me to meditate on how I should appropriately respond to student comments in general.

Student end-of-course evaluations are a ubiquitous and often painful experience for instructors—at least, they have been so for me. While there are welcome comments like, “This professor really knows his stuff,” other comments demand a thick skin because they seem unfair or unjustified, like “This professor is LAZY, and that is probably why I got such a low grade,” a comment that stung, even if it were untrue.

What should I, a Christ-follower, do with comments like these?

I confess that I am tempted to totally disregard the students’ expressions of discontent with the outcome of my efforts as just so much whining of immature children who are projecting their failings onto another.

In the past I have always winced a little when I saw the envelope appear in my mailbox. The reason? My pride and what my colleagues will think of me and what effect the anonymous critics’ opinion would have on my performance evaluation.

In other words, as I said earlier, “my pride.” Humility does not come easily to our kind in academic circles. But, lately, I have had something of an epiphany in regard to student evaluations.

Evaluation Epiphany

What I realized was that the written comments students turn in at the end of a course are a window into their hearts, a window that is left unshuttered because of the anonymity of their remarks. I have decided that—painful though it may be—I will mine the comments for constructive criticism of my instructional practice that I can use to become a better teacher, because I believe God will be honored by my best efforts.

Like a heater that runs without regard to the signal from a thermostat, an instructor who ignores feedback can leave the class either sullenly cold or feverish with frustration. Feedback can produce improvement in practice if part of my practice is reflective self assessment.

But what to do with the unfair or misplaced criticism? I have realized that while I may be the target of a student’s ire and not actually the cause of it, his expression always points to a disappointment that is real, nevertheless. And although I do not know the person by name, God does. Therefore, I have resolved to pray for this hurting student who seems to project his rage onto our relationship and my professional practice.

I pray that he will discover the true source of his lack of success and learn the self discipline he needs to succeed. I pray also that I will be a helpful guide to him and his peers, wise and skillful in the ways of teaching and of living, and I pray that my teaching and my living will point them to Christ.

Thus, whether I am a ROFL-copter or a LAZY slug in the eyes of my students, the Lord can redeem my efforts. I know that He is building me into a better version of me, a “Doc” 2.0.

I suppose that I should wear a button: “BPWMSGINTWOMY,” that is, “Be-patient-with-me- since-God-is-not-through-working-on-me-yet.”

In the meantime, by God’s grace I will honor him by loving and serving my students, His children, no matter what they say.

© 2010 Samuel E. Matteson

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