Monday Morning Update

April 18, 2011

Teachers as Students: You know them as experts, confident and accomplished in their respective fields. As professors they're used to being the teacher, not the student. But, what if we gave them the opportunity to sit on the other side of the desk and take any course offered on campus? What would they study? Which colleague would they like to have as their teacher? Their responses might surprise you-a dean who fears drawing, a psychology professor jazzed about a guitar Learning Community, a religious studies professor who tackled a quantum physics course, a communication professor seeking to bear witness to the Holocaust. Below we feature those four examples.

Learning to Draw: I have taken two drawing courses with Shane Savage-Rumbaugh. I have always been interested in art-I carve birds, visit museums, and doodle-however, I used to fear taking the plunge and learning to draw. Shane works with this fear and turns it into determination, which, I discovered, is followed by creativity. Slowly my hand began to respond to the reality my eyes saw. It remains difficult, but I improve. Richard Grant, Associate Dean of Academic Achievement.

Dangerous Curves: My choice has to be the Learning Community, Dangerous Curves: The Art of the Guitar. I mean, come on, just the name alone makes this one irresistible! It combines history, music, playing guitar (regardless of level) and-yes-building a guitar. Plus, the professors can seriously play the instrument. Forget about just choosing an LC that meets some requirement for your major. This is what LCs are all about! Lincoln Craton, Associate Professor of Psychology

Holocaust History: Since the introduction of Uncovering Judaism and Nazism in Europe to the curriculum, I have watched with envy and longing as students left campus every March to embark on what I consider to be a learning experience of a lifetime, facilitated by two of our most gifted faculty members, Kevin Spicer and Shari Lowin. To immerse myself in two academic courses, to learn the history of the Holocaust, and then to actually bear witness at the camps, would be an unforgettable lesson. Anne Mattina, Associate Professor of Communication

Entanglement: I actually took Mike Horne's Quantum Mechanics and Relativity Theory last semester. Horne is able to make the most abstract and difficult physics problems accessible even to a non-mathematician like me. He is one of the world's authorities on entanglement, the most mysterious aspect of the quantum mechanics-when photons seem to be impossibly and telepathically connected. It is the most exciting and intellectually stimulating class I have ever taken. Greg Shaw, Professor of Religious Studies

More Examples: You will find this feature in its entirety, along with many other great Stonehill stories, in the new issue of Stonehill Alumni Magazine. To read it, visit www.stonehillalumnimagazine.org.

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