Decanally Speaking

With Richard Utz, Interim Dean of the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts

I continue to be attracted to books that combine the features of the manifesto, memoir, and professional advice. These kinds of books often offer authentic personal experience and practical solutions. Most recently, I thumbed through an example of the genre that focuses on the place of teaching and the role of care and compassion for students. In her introduction to A Pedagogy of Kindness (2019), author Catherine Denial doesn’t mince words about what is absent from the current priorities in higher education. “Academia is not, by and large, a kind place. The engine of higher ed is fueled by stories of individualism, competition, prestige, and distrust.” When it comes to our students, she adds, our academic culture is dominated by “a generalized suspicion of students — they’ll cheat; they won’t do the reading; they’ll never come to class.” This hermeneutics of suspicion has only intensified with the ever-accelerating use of artificial intelligence and our crazed efforts to detect it in assignments.

Originally socialized into an academia championing individual achievement, competition, and distrust, Catherine Denial wants us to consider replacing suspicion and distrust with “believing people, and believing in people,” and she celebrates kindness (which is not the same as “being nice”) as the missing element in U.S. education, an element that can help students develop intellectually and socio-emotionally. Based on her experience as a student, graduate assistant, and instructor at several institutions, she recommends we should be kind to ourselves as educators, craft helpfully kind syllabi, devise kind forms of assessment, and be kind in the classroom.

A Pedagogy of Kindness contains numerous recommendations, and Catherine Denial is way too smart to think that her readers will include all of them into their practices. However: Perhaps you find new explanations about why students don’t tell us about the real reasons for being late on an assignment; perhaps you may replace unattended office hours with lively group work sessions; or you may decide to elevate students from passive recipients of information to partners in the learning process. I know many of us are thinking about some these matters all the time, but the condensed manner and deep commitment with which A Pedagogy of Kindness addresses them is refreshing. As I was reading, it dawned on me that many of the recommendations create some of the same kinds of engagement we find successful in the teaching of Vertically Integrated Projects, flipped classrooms, integrated learning, and internships. However, the book’s goals are much more comprehensive, even if you can easily zoom through its 182 pages in about three hours.

If you agree that we shouldn’t go on together with suspicious minds, take a peek at A Pedagogy of Kindness. If you think more “rigor” is all we need in higher ed, prepare to have your convictions challenged.

Sept. 25, 2024

The values section of our institution’s Strategic Plan includes a statement that leaves no doubt about what is at the heart of our efforts: “We are educators first and foremost, committed to developing leaders who advance technology and improve the human condition. We measure our success by the achievements of our students and the impact of our graduates in improving the lives of others.”  The clarity and positioning of this declaration is perhaps surprising at a top research university that employs just as about as many research faculty as academic faculty.  However almost all our activities, by researchers and academic teachers, contribute to the quality of student learning and their success after graduation. Most recently, the decision to make Transformative Learning Experiences the focus of Georgia Tech’s Quality Enhancement Plan (as part of the institution’s reaccreditation) would also indicate that we mean business when it comes to putting our students first.

Of course, students first need to be able to join us to partake of the learning experience we work so hard to create, and that’s why “Expand Access” is a prime focus area in our institution’s Strategic Plan, too.  One of the main obstacles to empowering as many students from as many backgrounds as possible is to make sure they see our institution as financially attainable.  And a 2024 investigation, for which Georgia Tech collaborated with the American Association of Universities, reveals that a considerable number of Georgia citizens believes that someone from a family like theirs could simply not afford attending Georgia Tech.  While we know that we in fact compare very well nationally in the area of affordability with institutions offering similar educational quality and reputation, it seems that the very populations for whom we seek to create additional pathways to attend Georgia Tech nevertheless perceive us as unaffordable.  Whatever we find out as we dig deeper into these data, we know that additional support to students will be necessary to expand access.  

At Ivan Allen College, making students our top priority and expanding access is not merely a performative act.  We deliberately enact these strategic priorities by increasing the investment we make in new direct student support:  In a first step, we joined Georgia Tech’s other colleges in a 3% increase for all graduate student stipends. In a second step, in addition to new faculty and staff hires and support for new programs initiatives, we are investing an unprecedented 35% of our total annual budget allocation in 17 new graduate student stipend lines, both at the master’s and doctoral levels.  And we won’t stop there:  Another focus for the academic year will be to substantially increase the number of scholarships available to undergraduate students.  

Please join us in our effort to make an Ivan Allen College education attainable and affordable for as many students as possible!  As a smart national leader once said: “Show me your budget, and I'll tell you what you value.” 

Aug. 21, 2024

Our Georgia Tech strategic plan states that “we thrive on diversity,” and many of us do our part to make sure this isn’t just a slogan. There is a small (perhaps not so small) adjustment we can make to create a more welcoming workplace.

No, I am not thinking about gender pronouns, although getting those right definitely demonstrates respect for another person’s preferred gender identity. I am thinking about names.

Our names are deeply personal, related to identity and heritage, but it’s amazing how often we get our coworkers’ or students’ names wrong, pronounce them only approximately right, or avoid saying someone’s name entirely because we feel embarrassed. Research reveals what those on the receiving end feel when their names are avoided or continually mispronounced and misspelled: “I am not important.” — “I am different.” — “I am not respected and valued.” And, as a consequence: “I don’t belong here.”

There are best practices about how to remedy this situation, and most actions only take seconds: Online resources offer pronunciation guides for names from around the world. If you feel comfortable enough, you can also simply ask your colleague or student about their preferred pronunciation. Those of us working in the science of names and naming (onomastics, specifically anthroponymy) know that human names are tricky when it comes to pronunciation. The normal rules of pronunciation don’t always apply. If you yourself have a name that might cause others difficulty, you can add a pronunciation guide in your email signature. And if you know how to pronounce someone else’s name correctly, but others don’t, you can help the situation by pronouncing it correctly so that others can hear and imitate.

Am I guilty of mispronouncing and misspelling others’ names? Absolutely. Living in a trilingual household doesn’t protect one from getting things wrong. Knowing this, I try to pay a little extra attention when a colleague’s last name happens to be “Fealing” (which autocorrect invariably turns into “Feeling”), wondered if Aaron Levine prefers to pronounce his last name “la-veen” or “lee-vine” (both exist, but he prefers “la-veen”), and loved to learn that Shatakshee (“shuh-taak-shee”) Dhongde’s first name is a blend of two Sanskrit words, “shata” and “akshi,” which translates into “hundred-eyed,” which comes in handy when she surveys the myriad details in the world of academic affairs. And finally, I wouldn’t want to call our president “Angel” (“AYN-juhl”) when he prefers the Spanish “Ángel” (which most English speakers approximate into “AHN-hehl”).

Getting each others’ names right takes only the smallest of efforts.

We are at Georgia Tech. We can do that.

July 24, 2024