Five new winners of the Harold Abel Distinguished Faculty awards were recently honored for their outstanding contributions. They, in turn, were inspired by educators and others when they were students. Here they share stories of those who motivated them and led them to where they are today—everyone from a junior high school teacher to mom.
Jackson ‘Skot’ Beazley Faculty member, Leadership in Educational Administration During my fourth year of teaching at Thunderbird High School, my principal, Dr. Jennifer Johnson, encouraged me to get involved in a doctoral program at Arizona State University. She also encouraged me to apply for an administrative position within the district. She was very persistent and supportive, so I did both. In August of that year, three things happened. I was accepted to the a PhD class in Educational Leadership at ASU, got a new job as the “Dean of Darkness” (formal title: Assistant Principal for Discipline and Attendance) at a high school in the middle of a neighborhood struggling with gang influences 45 miles from my home and my wife became pregnant. (Our youngest child was 10 at the time.) The round-trip drive was 110 miles. As you might imagine, that year was the toughest year of my life. But I survived, received my doctorate in 2001, have a beautiful 11-year- old daughter who is the apple of my eye, and I am a seasoned veteran of 12 years as a public school administrator. The path to success is often a winding road, for sure.
Amy L. Donovan Lead Core Faculty, Research/Dissertation Team, School of Human Services There have been a number of people who inspired me in my own educational journey, but the one who stands out most is Dr. Mary McEvoy. Mary was my teacher, mentor and friend when I was in graduate school at the University of Minnesota. She was one of the most passionate teachers I’ve ever known and taught me a great deal about how to inspire learners to reach their highest potential. She also taught me that you can enjoy your students, and that by respecting them and learning from them, you become a memorable and influential person in their lives. Mary was killed in a plane crash with Sen. Paul Wellstone just before I completed my graduate program, and I like to think that I am honoring her memory well by trying to be the kind of teacher for others that she was for me.
Randy S. Johnson Faculty Chair of General Psychology, Colloquia Lead I grew up in a small, rural town. Critical thinking was not a hallmark of the educational process. In ninth grade, a new algebra teacher began teaching in our school. He had a history background but the school’s need was for an algebra teacher. I did not like math at the time and therefore did not do well in the class. But my teacher spoke to us everyday and he challenged my thinking. The next year, he began to teach history, a subject I did like. For the next two years, he challenged me to think about my belief system and to look beyond the boundaries of my home town. There were many inspirational teachers along the way, but this one teacher initiated the journey that would expose me to many more wonderful teachers. I had no idea of the term “critical thinking” back then but I realize he certainly did. Critical thinkers were not popular at that time and unfortunately, he moved on. But anytime I am asked who most influenced me in my educational journey, I think fondly of those three years, even algebra.
Brian Barton Faculty Chair of Marketing and Capstone Courses School of Undergraduate Studies Business Program During my MBA days at the University of Michigan, I was fortunate to have had numerous excellent professors. One who was particularly inspirational was C.K. Prahalad. I had C.K. for a business strategy course, and I thought he had tremendous insight into that area, including particularly from a global perspective. He taught me (and my classmates) some valuable lessons about how to look at situations that have stayed with me to this day. He would take some seemingly overwhelming situation, analyze it, and show in surprisingly simple terms how the strategies and tactics chosen by competing enterprises impacted their success (or lack thereof).
Maudie Holm Faculty member, School of Business and Technology There are numerous teachers who influenced me, but the most important of these was my Mom. When she was in a hospice, she told me for the first time that she had dreamed of being a teacher. Then she told me how proud she was of me for making a career change and joining Capella. She ended by saying, “Excellence is so important. Expect this of your students and expect this of yourself. The rest will fall into place.” These are probably the wisest words I have heard regarding teaching and learning.
This entry was posted on Thursday, July 10th, 2008 at 1:31 pm and is filed under Alumni, Learners. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
