My Amazing Professor

[Editor's note: This article was written by a graduate student at a medium-sized private university.  The original post can be viewed at Susan's blog.]

I lucked out with having one of the most amazing, personable departments ever. Most students tell me about how apathetic, cold, and sometimes even spiteful their professors can be. I realize that I am blessed. God blessed me with the BEST professors and advisors- we’re talking incredibly accomplished people in their field, Harvard Ph.D’s who are on the frontlines of social science, medicine/epidemiology, public health, and political science research. Not only are they accomplished, but they are NICE!

They sit and ask me how I’m doing. They invite me for lunch or cocktails. They send me funny cartoons or political comics or youtube clips. They range from age 35-72 years, yet they are the same in that they’re humorous, intelligent, witty, and kind! A few of them have been teaching for 45+ years; when they’re teaching, it’s not abstract and theoretical- they draw from rich life experiences as they recall memories of the civil rights movement, traveling for days with the freedom-riders, getting arrested and beaten by sheriffs and cops, living in South Africa and Thailand and doing medical research, etc etc. Amazing.

The chair of my department never acts stressed or too busy to talk to you, even though she is one of THE busiest people I know, with her hand in dozens of major research projects going on in the tri-state area and nationwide. She even sat with my grad cohort for hours last semester doing reviews and prepping us for the comprehensive exam. She has reviewed my writing samples, personal statements, etc. for Ph. D programs. Who does that??

It’s also in the little things. Take my one professor for example. I have had him for 3 classes since undergrad. He has to travel back and forth from school to D.C. to work on government projects dealing with terrorism and policy in the Middle East. He is single-handedly organizing huge research database consortiums in the area. Yet he goes above and beyond what a typical professor should do.

—————————————————————

Some examples:

1.) His office is across from my advisor’s office, and he overhears me discussing my research proposal with her. He goes to his bookshelf, digs out some books, then walks over to her office, knocks on the door, and hands me the books, which are so relevant and helpful to my research that I’m actually stunned that he understood exactly what I needed from the little snippet of conversation.

2.) He reads the rough draft of one of my final papers, writes out a page of constructive feedback, then later emails me with several citations of research articles that will help me with the paper. (I have never ever had a professor do this- actually look up resources to help a student) I end up getting an A.

3.) He knows that we are strapped for cash, so for classes, he hands out the syllabus to us a week before the class starts, with the ISBNS of the books we need so that we can order them ahead and get them for a discount. In another class, he mass-orders one of the books in bulk for us so that we don’t have to pay full price.

4.) He is not my advisor, yet he sits down with me for hours explaining to me the Ph.D application process and comparing and contrasting different programs, what they are looking for, what the faculty is like, the admissions process, and details of his own student experience (University of Chicago and Harvard.)

5.) And just yesterday, he reviewed my entire proposal and wrote out pages of feedback, advice, and resources for my project, especially for the methods. He bullet-pointed lists of contact people, databases, different analyses to use, and other topics of inquiry. (Keep in mind that he is not my advisor and we are in completely different fields of interest.)  The feedback was so in-depth, specific, focused that I felt SO encouraged and practically glowed while I was reading it. His final sentence: “This proposal is as professional and as thoroughly researched as any thesis proposal I’ve read at this school. I’ve written a lot here- not because I think your project is flawed, but the opposite: your proposal is so good that I want to take the time and give you whatever help I can to make it even better. You’ve got a real chance here to have a fantastic thesis. Good job, Susan.”

6.) When my professor got a new car, he was thinking of selling his old car, which was still in good condition and ran well.  However, he opted out of selling it and wrote an email to all the grad students in our department, telling them the specs of the car and offering the car- free of charge- to the first grad student that responded with a witty limerick.   He ended up giving his old car to one of my classmates, 45 minutes after he sent the email.

—————————————————————–

I can’t explain what those words mean to me after such a strenuous time. I know it sounds cheesy, but I almost cried. I have been really overwhelmed and also less than confident in my abilities, and I really feel God sent him to encourage me. You have to realize that this behavior is not normal for the average professor.

I was trying to think of why it is like this. I realized that I’m in a small private school that cares about brand-name stuff and reputation, so they court the best academics they can get by offering more academic freedom and decent salaries. BUT my school is nowhere near as competitive and cutthroat as the big names (at least for sociology), and the department is small enough that people can make relationships. Obviously there are trade-offs in the situation. But it’s a nice balance.

I’m sorry this is such a long post but I cannot express how thankful and impressed I am. My heart still feels so moved when I think about it. Thank God for sending such admirable, inspiring, and uplifting people in my life! They lead by example through their life and their accomplishments and how they treat people, and they have such a real and authentic shepherd’s heart. I really hope I can be a mentor like this one day. Thank you God !