As of August, I am an Assistant Professor of Biology at Reed College. In this series of blog posts, I will explain why I chose this environment as my academic landing pad (or launching pad).
Part 2: The teaching opportunities are tremendous.
I have always wanted to teach. Ironically, very few Ph.D. programs incentivize learning how to teach.* In 2013, Derek Bok, former president of Harvard, wrote a great commentary in the Chronicle of Higher Education about how technology necessitates a change in preparing Ph.D. graduates to teach.
In graduate school, I explicitly sought out a teaching experience. I helped students develop computational tools to solve questions relevant to their own majors (English, History, Political Science, Gender Studies) and interests (NASCAR, music, food). Forget about me inspiring the students – I was inspired by them!
I have joined a college that encourages faculty to teach what they believe are the most important and relevant aspects of their field. The classes I will teach at Reed, which focus on learning computer programming to solve biological problems, are completely new additions to the existing courses in the Biology Department. Some may scoff at the “course load release” I and other assistant faculty have obtained in the first year, but the point is to teach at these types of schools. Engaging with students, educating them, and inspiring them is one of my major career goals.
I will end with hefty dose of reality, one that everyone in education is well-aware of. Teaching is hard. Teaching well is harder. Add to that teaching on my own for the first time and creating course content from scratch, and this year will be a daunting rollercoaster ride. But I am more excited about the teaching opportunities three weeks into a hectic first semester than I was when I first took the job.
*I personally don’t know of any computer science Ph.D. programs that incentivize learning how to teach. Perhaps in other fields it is more commonplace.
Ritz Bits 