They also understand that their predecessors have set the bar high and that they are in some ways measured by the past. "Hamilton has a long, rich history," says Associate Professor of Theatre Mark Cryer. "There is a sense of responsibility that we as faculty carry with us every day to maintain that excellence…. You want to be a strong link in that historical chain."
Many elements of good teaching are complex, changing from discipline to discipline and evolving from one generation to the next. Others are matters of personal style. But some, as Nesbitt knew, are simple. Not every classroom window on campus opens these days, but the need to energize students and keep them focused remains a constant. So does the need to engage them one-on-one. And a remarkable proportion of Hamilton professors, asked to reflect on teaching, prefer to talk about learning—their own. Assistant Professor of Psychology Tara McKee, for instance, says that when she arrived six years ago, she was "terrified that someone was going to ask a question I couldn't answer."When it happened though, she realized she could use such moments to enlist her students in research, turning learning moments into teaching ones.
Steven Yao, assistant dean of faculty for diversity initiatives and associate professor of English, says that the drive to continue learning is crucial to teaching: "The more we can show that we, too, are regularly confronting questions we don't already know the answers to," he says, "the better we serve our students."
