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Those are just some of the things students share about
Rose-Hulman faculty in a new book spotlighting America's best
professors. It's a small, select group honored in The
Princeton Review's The Best 300 Professors, yet Rose-Hulman
had not just one but six on the
prestigious list. Considering that there are more
than 4,000 colleges and universities across the United
States, employing nearly 2 million post-secondary teachers,
that's an incredible achievement. |
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"I had five of these six professors," recalls Brad Woodcox
(ME, 2004; MSBE, 2009), who sees it as hardly coincidental that
Rose-Hulman has so many professors on the list. "Rose-Hulman
attracts professors who really enjoy teaching- and teaching is
different from lecturing. They have a genuine concern for wanting
students to learn." Woodcox is also not surprised that students
describe their professors as "cool," and talk a lot about the jokes
their professors tell and off-the-wall stories shared in the
classroom. These professors, he says, build strong relationships
with their students in a way that helps them better connect from a
teaching perspective. "A lot of professors at Rose-Hulman will
reach out on a personal level, with personal anecdotes
and stories from their |
lives," says Woodcox. "It's getting to know students on a
personal level, so students have a personal connection with their
professors."
"I think it's a reflection that our emphasis is on
students and undergraduate education," says Phillip Cornwell,
Ph.D., Vice President for Academic Affairs. "Our professors view
their primary responsibility as teaching and educating our
students."
That emphasis on students' needs also shows up in the
"open door" policy that is so prevalent on campus. At Rose-Hulman,
"professors are available large parts of the day," Woodcox
says.
Add to that the small class sizes, and you have a
recipe for teaching success. "When you have small classes, you know
every student by name," Cornwell says. "You recognize them and you
value [each one of] them as a person." |
While
Cornwell is pleased to find Rose-Hulman so well represented in The
Best 300 Professors, he says there are many more on the faculty who
are equally deserving of the limelight. In fact, he says, the
quality of teaching is infectious. "We have so many talented
educators that it raises everybody's level of teaching." "I
wouldn't be surprised to see even more professors from Rose-Hulman
earn this distinction in the future," agrees Woodcox, now director
of investment and operations at HalberdCross LLC and technical
specialist for Novak, Druce + Quigg in California. "As an alumnus,
I'm thrilled to see Rose-Hulman recognized on such a grand
scale."  |