A Kinder, Gentler Approach

Alan Shusterman [chemistry, 1989–2020]

Little did I know what I was getting myself into when I moved to Reed in 1989 to teach organic chemistry. The faculty who became my colleagues were uniformly welcoming. And the clean Oregon air, gentle climate, and freedom from freeway commutes were all that I had hoped for (and that my lungs needed) after four years in southern California. The Reed campus was breathtakingly beautiful, and Reed students were so keen to do undergraduate research! It all seemed like a dream.

But . . . as I soon discovered, faculty research was controversial in many quarters (“Why do chemists need so much time and money?”), and my primary teaching assignment, Chemistry 210: Organic Chemistry, had a longstanding “reputation” around campus (fyi, those were scare quotes) that wasn’t going to be changed easily.

So this is how my long Reed journey began. Grants were written. A new chemistry building appeared with a dedicated computer lab. And I began teaching organic chemistry year after year to steadily increasing numbers of students, pleased by the large quantity of bright, motivated, hard working Reedies, and oblivious to the problems that my attitude and traditional teaching approach— Lecture + Homework & Conference + Exam (repeat)—were creating. Fortunately for my students (and for me), my teaching methods evolved. The first step in this process was recognition that a problem existed. In this, faceto-face feedback from students about their experiences in O Chem, their lives at Reed, and their lives in general was crucial. As I learned to listen (this took time!), I began to understand the barriers to learning that existed and how new methods of teaching were needed. Today, at the end of my career, I can say that the active-learning (POGIL), multiple-testing approach that I used during my last decade at Reed was not only kinder and gentler than the traditional approach that I began with, it also significantly raised student success across the board.

It is also important to say that nothing in my Reed life has been a solo effort. I have been supported by innumerable students, staff, and faculty to this day (thank you, O Chem teammates: Pat, Rebecca, Alicia). Sadly, there isn’t room to list them all. I will call out just one person, the late David Slack Barrett ’79. I saw Dave and his tai chi class early on, but it wasn’t until 2003 that I began attending. I continued studying with Dave until the summer of 2017, when he was suddenly taken from us. I didn’t come to Reed because it offered tai chi, but I leave Reed a happier and more fulfilled person because of the gifts that the Reed community has provided. Thank you!