SPECIAL ISSUE
Professors
MEET THE
Volume 130 Issue 26
Whether you chose your professors because of their Rate My Professor ratings, recommendations from your friends or the fact that their class time allowed you to sleep in on Fridays — the professors you take can make or break your time at UT.
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Why not get to know them a little better?
Thursday, September 24, 2015
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MEETTHEPROFESSORS
The Daily Beacon • Thursday, September 24, 2015
THE DAILY BEACON STAFF
EDITORIAL
Editor-in-Chief: Jenna Butz Managing Editor: Bradi Musil Creative Director: Katrina Roberts Chief Copy Editor: Hannah Moulton, Kevin Ridder News Editor: Tanner Hancock Asst. News Editor: Heidi Hill Sports Editor: Jonathan Toye Asst. Sports Editor: Taylor White Arts & Culture Editor: Megan Patterson Asst. Arts & Culture Editor: Michael Lipps Online Editor: Cara Sanders Multimedia Editor: Hayley Brundige Photo Editors: Esther Choo, Hayley Pennesi Design Editors: Justin Keyes, Lauren Ratliff Copy Editors: Jordan Achs, Clint Graves, Altaf Nanavati, Sterling Martin Editorial Production: Meggie Briggs, Laurel Cooper, Hannah Marley, Caroline Norris Training Editor: Troy Provost-Heron
DEAR READER, If you’ve been at UT in springs past, you may have caught the Daily Beacon’s student appreciation issue. Every year, we take the time to celebrate the students who go above and beyond creatively, mentally, kindly and bravely. They are the people you see hand billing on Pedestrian in the winter without gloves. You might find them spending a Saturday cleaning up the Fort instead of nursing Friday’s hangover. Possibly they’ll spend nights in a studio, creating art pieces that will make you ponder capitalist society. Yes, students are great and all, but what about the people at UT who teach us to be that way? Each time we interview a student about an awesome thing they’re doing, they always refer back to the faculty member that pushed and educated and encouraged them. Individually we know how great our obscure Appalachian literature professor is, but shouldn’t everyone else celebrate their hard work too? We don’t talk about the professors who skip a beer with their colleagues to edit your paper with you. Or what about when they give up their weekends to make sure you get your test back on Monday? They don’t get to just leave their work on campus — even if we like to think they do (Honestly, it makes it easier to hate them a little bit). This semester, we added the Meet the Professors issue — an appreciation of the faculty that teaches and encourages us through every day, every semester, every victory lap. Unlike the Student Appreciation issue though, this isn’t a collection of profiles. Though there are a few, and spotlighting the work of individual
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professors is important to us and the community as a whole, they are a microscopic sampling of all the university’s faculty and the work they do. Instead, we’ve added a Q&A with the faculty senate about what they do and what issues faculty deal with. There’s a continuation of the pet peeves story we did in the spring, so you’ll know what to avoid the next time you walk into that professor’s class. There’s an opinion piece on when it’s appropriate to use your favorite professor as your bank security question. (Also, did you know you can check professor’s salaries through the Knoxville News Sentinel? Flip to page 10 to find out how and why it may not be so great). There are a host of other issues we could tackle when it comes to faculty, and there are hundreds more professors to profile. Good thing we make a paper every single day (Monday through Friday, excluding class breaks. Hey, I’m trying to play putt-putt in Gatlinburg too). Throughout this semester and next, keep emailing, tweeting, Facebooking, telegraphing us what you want to know and the real life adults who take on the treacherous task of dealing with us. There’s more to cover, but here’s an official introduction. We’re scraping the surface here, but it’s just the first step in showing our much deserved appreciation of UT’s brave souls we call professors.
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Sharma gives lessons on the field, in the classroom Hannah Marley Production Artist
What happens when someone wants to search your car with a police dog? Or start a Church of Cannabis, protest a funeral or pray at a football game? One man has the answers and the explanations, all built in to both a legal and practical study of the interworkings of American law and politics. Earning his bachelors in English at Cornell, Hemant Sharma is a soccer player with a passion for the law, carrying both loves with him from New Jersey to Tennessee in 2004 to coach UT’s women’s soccer team. Sharma has previously played for the Buffalo Blizzard major indoor soccer team
and coached at the University of Colorado before coaching and completing his Ph.D. at UT. “Originally, I came here to work a soccer camp for a week. 11 years later, I’m still here,” Sharma said. “I love it here. I love the energy on this campus.” Alongside his career as a soccer player and coach, Sharma is best known in the political science department for his unconventional approach to teaching, including constant discussion, Google searches and more than a few clips from The Colbert Report and The Daily Show. Sharma said his love of teaching comes from his ability to connect his students to the political and legal world that surrounds them through applicability and discussion. “We try to look at tangible instances where
students can see how the law actually affects their lives on a day-to-day basis,” Sharma said. “That’s what’s fun about this job, trying to find ways to link seemingly far away topics like politics, the law, the constitution, and bringing it down to a level where students can say ‘I see how this affects me today.’” The effect of his teaching is evident in the students themselves, from large lecture halls to smaller honors courses. The atmosphere is relaxed and critical, full of tangents and discussion and, above all, the law. “I love the energy in a room with 300 people in it. It’s exciting when you can get all of them to focus on a topic,” Sharma said. “Sometimes the topics drift away from the syllabus, but I will never try to stifle discussion, regardless of where it ends up taking us.” See SHARMA on Page 7
MEETTHEPROFESSORS
Thursday, September 24, 2015 • The Daily Beacon
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Professor provides basis for annual African-American history lecture Emilee Lamb Staff Writer
It started in the cradle for Shannen Williams. Born in Memphis to two descendants of slaves, Williams, who holds her Ph.D. in African-American history, described her childhood as story after story of the past, making history her everyday reality. Her mother, Williams said, was the first black woman to receive a degree from Notre Dame, and both her parents were part of the Great Migration of millions of black citizens from the South to the North. African-American history was both lived and learned in Williams’ home. “My father, my late father, was the first and probably the best historian that I ever knew,” she said. “He had a wonderful voice. He was a wonderful speaker.” Her undergraduate education solidified this draw to history, and three degrees later, Williams sits in her office in Dunford Hall, an assistant professor of history squarely on the tenure track. “She has a very keen sense of how to really connect what’s going on in our world to history and why history matters to everything that’s happening in society,” said Brandon Winford, Ph.D., fellow assistant professor in the history department and co-founder with Williams of the FlemingMorrow Endowment in African-American History. The endowment, established in the spring of this year, provides the basis for an annual lecture in African-American history as well as two student awards in both African-American and military history. Named for two former UT faculty members who shattered barriers in the academic profession, John H. Morrow and Cynthia Griggs Fleming, the endowment’s creation was the personal project of Williams and Winford, even before the two were estab-
She has a very keen sense of how to really connect what’s going on in our world to history matters to everything that’s happening in society.”
Professor Shannen Williams is an assistant professor of history squarely on the tenure track. Tiara Holt • The Daily Beacon lished in their positions at UT. The program, as both Williams and Winford explained, was in part spurred by UT’s “Journey to the Top 25.” An annual lecture in African-American studies, they asserted, is a necessary part of that equation. “Because the reality is, most institutions in the position of UT, these programs are already sort of ongoing,” Winford said. “We felt like we needed to be a part of that growth.” The establishment of this groundbreaking initiative at UT is not Williams’ only pioneering venture in her discipline. See WILLIAMS on Page 8
Brandon Windford, fellow professor
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The Daily Beacon • Thursday, September 24, 2015
Q&A: Executive member talks inner workings of faculty senate Heidi Hill Assistant News Editor Faculty Senate, compromised of 14 committees and 16 caucus chairs, congregates every month to discuss issues ranging from research integrity and library technology to job outsourcing and insurance benefits. The Daily Beacon spoke with sitting Faculty Senate president Bruce MacLennan, a professor in electrical engineering, to understand the legislative body, his position, ongoing debates among his Faculty Senate peers and the relationship between Senate members and UT administrators.
Professor Bill Larsen has a lecture style that involves a lot of energetic, high volume discussion and outbursts.
The Daily Beacon: How exactly does Faculty Senate function and what purpose does it serve? MacLennan: “Most universities run differently from other organizations — like businesses — so we have a different model. But we still practice shared governance. “What that means is that running the university falls to the administrators and the faculty. We try to divide up the expertise to go with the responsibility. The faculty are the ones interacting with students on a day-to-day basis, and we’re the ones who are experts in our fields and advancing our disciplines. “Although it appears separate from the administration, Faculty Senate is a resource for them on many matters. Ultimately, a lot of the policies we discuss go into the Faculty handbook which is the set of procedures that both faculty and administrators follow in terms of promotion, tenure, faculty evaluation and disciplinary matters, if those things comes up.”
Alex Phillips • The Daily Beacon
your time as president, how receptive has UT administration been with Faculty DB InSenate? Have there been times when you didn’t feel supported?
the university. I do feel like we all are on the same page even though we might be BM with ‘New Yorker’ uses unconventional pulling in different directions sometimes. I think we all understand that the admin“The Senate, over its history at the university, has had a very cooperative relationship
istration has a commitment to the faculty. “One issue of continuing debate is the relationship of athletics on the main campus. In the past, our athletics program has put money into academics, but it’s not at the moment. The reason is because (Chancellor Cheek) wants to build a cash reserve. “What bothers some of the members is when you look at the salaries of some of the coaches, the numbers are huge. If you think of the academic part as being the university, it looks like the tail wagging the dog, at least financially, and many faculty have trouble stomaching that.”
DB
There’s been some discussion this semester about a new policy on studentfaculty relationships. Has there been any new or added regulations regarding those relationships?
BM
“(The new policy) it says now if there is a power difference in the (faculty/student) relationship, it’s forbidden. In cases where there’s less of a power difference— if that student is having a relationship with a faculty member, but they’re not being advised or taught by that person — it’s just discouraged. “It’s shifted from being discouraged to prohibited when dealing with a formal power differential, and it’s a more prescriptive discouragement in an informal relationship. “When you try to write these policies, you try to write something that acknowledges that we’re human beings and things happen, but something that protects against abuse and situations that turn out badly.”
DB How does the work of Faculty Senate affect students? “Very directly. The Senate is essentially responsible for every curriculum, every course
and, ultimately, for the quality of the faculty. “If you look at the bylaws of BM description the Faculty Senate, we’re responsible for academics — that’s what it boils down to. That’s a big hunk of your life as a student. Whatever degree program you’re in, that’s approved by Faculty Senate and any changes made to that program are done through us.”
tactics to teach, appeal to students Megan Patterson Arts & Culture Editor William Larsen, a distinguished lecturer in English, still remembers the first paper he ever marked up as a teacher. It was a test in his second period social studies class in the New York City high school where he began his career. Larsen marked up the paper the same way he does now, with color coded comments that fill up the margins and with detailed feedback in every blank space. “I saw one person look at the grade, and then throw it in the garbage,” Larsen said. “I was heartbroken, and I was angry. I picked it out and I saw one of the people leaving and I asked them if they knew Debbie Williams. They said yes and I told them to tell her to read it and then she can throw it away.” After 46 years of teaching, not much has changed in how Larsen runs a class and in what he expects from his students. Since he made the shift from high school teaching to university lecturing in 1990 when he entered as a Ph.D. student, Larsen has stuck to the same basic principles of how to run a class.
“The people who I had as teachers, who were the teachers that I liked the best and learned the most from, are the same people who made me work the hardest,” Larsen said. “My 5th grade teacher Mrs. Stein. She made you work hard, but you had fun.” Larsen knows that he has a campus reputation of being the New Yorker, but instead of taking it as a negative, Larsen decided to embrace this persona. “When I first came here, I had to decide. I have a pretty good ear, so I could have lost the accent on purpose,” Larsen said. “But I realized, no, this is part of the cache that I’ve got. I’ll be the New Yorker.” The “New Yorker” has built a larger than life reputation for himself; there is even a student-created Facebook fan club devoted to his quirky habits. “I first met Dr. Larsen in his screenplay writing class in the fall of 2014, and he terrified me,” Katherine Christian, senior in English, recalled. Although Christian admitted she went in expecting the worst, about a week into the class, she decided it was one of the best classes she had taken at UT. See LARSEN on Page 11
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Thursday, September 24, 2015 • The Daily Beacon
East Tennessee provides ideal habitats for environmental studies Jenna Butz Editor-in-Chief Michael McKinney knows a lot about snails. UT’s director of environmental studies and sustainability and his graduate assistant Mackenzie Hodges, graduate student in geology, research land snails and how they are indicators of human disturbance. “We’re finding a lot of invasive snails that are not native, and finding some new species. Basically it’s because nobody studies them. They’re under-appreciated,” McKinney said. “But I think it’s exciting because they drive the ecosystems.” But snails are just a fraction of McKinney’s research. His work focuses on conservation biology and urban ecology, primarily conserving natural systems and fueling sustainable cities. It’s in part why he ended up, and stayed, at UT. He had other job offers around the country after he graduated with a Ph.D. in geology from Yale, but none of them offered him the unique conundrum Knoxville does. “I love mountains. It’s a great place if you’re interested in the environment,” McKinney said. “You have a combination of a lot of natural beauty and a culture that doesn’t do a great job of taking care of it, so I think that there’s a lot of work that I can do here.” Neighboring the Great Smoky Mountains not only provides McKinney with problem solving opportunities, but it allows him to dig into his activist cravings. While he loves teaching, it’s the gritty work of providing real solutions to complex environmental problems that drives his scientific passions. “I realized a long time ago that I was going to be an activist because it’s just my nature to want to fix problems,” McKinney said. “A lot of professors don’t feel that way. They just want to write all day long, and I just don’t feel that way. Then I realized that I can make my science relevant, so instead of just articles on random scientific problems, I decided to attack practical problems.” Beyond the snails, McKinney is involved with Knoxville’s Urban Wilderness, where he studies invasive plants as well as freshwater mussels in polluted water systems. He relocates them to environments where they can healthily repopulate. “All those are part of my scientific resume, but they’re also really important environmental issues,” McKinney explained. “I love it. It’s great. It’s like I can get my activist passion and also my science at the same time.” This need to be an activist fueled founding Students Promoting Environmental Action in Knoxville in the early 90s. There, he teaches environmental activism to students who want to make a difference but may not be sure how
to start. “(My favorite part is) helping student activists see what it’s like to try to change the world — how hard it is,” he explained with a chuckle. “It’s good to see what it’s like to organize a campaign, and what it’s like to meet with administrators who aren’t always interested in what you’re doing.” This emphasis on fieldwork doesn’t mean he hates the classroom, though. McKinney said he still relishes teaching and his students as it gives him a chance to create lasting relationships and still engage his own intellectual side while fueling students’. “I love it. I just like people,” McKinney said. “I like teaching because it keeps my mind active. I like intellectual life, and teaching helps me with that. I think if I just stayed at a desk all day or didn’t teach I probably wouldn’t be as happy. It’s pretty funny because I know a lot of people see teaching as a chore, but I just always enjoyed it.” McKinney’s love for teaching captivated Hodges from the beginning. She went from sitting front row in one of his lower level classes to working by his side. “McKinney was my very first class on my very first day of college,” Hodges said. “I sat in the front row of his 201 class, which is a biodiversity class. I’ve always loved animals, so having that be my first college class, he rocked my world. It was everything I had ever hoped for — to get out of college.” From there, Hodges took advantage of the service opportunities McKinney emails his classes, and he helped her get an internship in the Smoky Mountains. It wasn’t long before Hodges would be co-teaching his classes and researching land snails. “The next year, he dumped like a thousand land snails on my desk and gave me this old book … and was like, identify all of these snails. I did that, and then he drew me in to do my masters,” Hodges laughed. “He does it slowly, so I never intended to get a masters. But, he would always bring it up casually, and I would sort of ignore him. But then somehow I’m here. I’m happy, and now he’s casually inserting Ph.D. into conversation with me.” A self-described “friendly guy,” McKinney’s easy-going, relaxed demeanor and dedication are what keep his students coming back to learn and work with him. “He’s so darn encouraging,” Hodges said, shaking her head in disbelief. “He’s never talked down to me, or made me feel bad about myself — he’s really good at pointing you in the right direction without holding your hand to get there. He tries to tell you that that’s the goal, and kind of lets you figure out how to get there on your own, which is really nice. So, he’s not overbearing, but he’s still there when you need him.”
Professor Michael McKinney admits to being an original Trekkie. Alyssa White • The Daily Beacon
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The Daily Beacon • Thursday, September 24, 2015
IN THE NUMBERS BREAK DOWN BY RACE AMERICAN INDIAN OR ALASKAN NATIVE
Do you ever find yourself wondering how our facu
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SHARMA continued from Page 2 Richard Pacelle, the head of the political science department at UT, described Sharma as an asset to the political science department, stating that his talent for teaching is ideal for gateway courses.
“He teaches in a different way and holds students’ attention, which is hard to do in a big class,” Pacelle said. “People come to me and say ‘thanks for hiring him.’ I didn’t hire him, but sometimes I just say ‘you’re welcome.’” Sharma’s love for politics began during the peak of his soccer years at Cornell after discovering that several of the university’s students had been killed during the 9/11 attacks. As he watched the effects of the attacks impact his soccer team and his community, he said he became inspired to learn more about the political
processes involved in responding to crises and preventing future situations. This initial inspiration is reflected in the 11 years of writing, research and teaching law that has distinguished Sharma in his field both as a professor and researcher. Despite the fact that as a lecturer he does not have to conduct research, Sharma has conducted an 8 year study on racial bias and the death penalty in Tennessee. After studying 50 years worth of cases, he has concluded that there has not been any
racial Tenn No possi they cine, passi athlet Sh
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The Daily Beacon • Thursday, September 24, 2015
ulty breaks down? Us too. Here’s what we found.
BREAK DOWN BY GENDER 638 WOMEN
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l discrimination in the application of the death penalty in nessee. one of these opportunities and successes would have been ible without support from his parents, Sharma said. After both left India so his father could pursue a career in mediSharma said they instilled in him a love for learning and ion for education which has helped carry him through his tic and academic career. harma said he hopes the same support will carry him
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through law school as he pursues his law degree at UT. He said he ultimately intends to use his degree the way he uses his passion for politics now: to connect people to the processes that affect their lives. “My specialization will be whatever comes into my office, whatever people need in a moment,” Sharma said. “I want to learn, I want to be a better teacher. There are a lot of people who can benefit from legal advice who are overlooked by the justice system or can’t afford it.”
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PROFESSOR PUBLICATIONS UT is known as a research institution, but how often do students really delve into what their professors have published? The UT faculty has a wealth of publications that, for the most part, goes unnoticed among students and often professors in other specializations. Here is just a sample of the work the university’s faculty has published within the past year, but these publications merely scratch the surface. Visit each college’s website to explore more publications and cultivate an awareness of the variety of research occurring on campus each day. Kristi Maxwell, lecturer in English, published a book of poetry called “That Our Eyes Be Rigged” in October of 2014. The poems center around the life contained within language itself. They often explore a single word by revealing all that it contains and by drawing inner connections between seemingly incongruent words. It evokes elaborate imagery and links the linguistic to the physical.
Tricia Hepner, associate professor in anthropology, published a book along with four of her colleagues titled “African Asylum at the Crossroads: Activism, Expert Testimony and Refugee Rights.” The publication complies essays about African refugees seeking asylum, and discusses the role of legal experts in guaranteeing refugee rights. It also examines the role and importance of testimonies of experts.
Ernest Freeberg, professor in history, published a book analyzing the history and impact of the electric light revolution on American society called “The Age of Edison: Electric Light and the Invention of Modern America.” Freeberg discusses how Edison’s bulb, more so than any other 19th century invention, ushered America into the modern age. The book transforms Edison into a mythic figure that changes the course of history.
Rosalind Hackett, professor and head of religious studies, coauthored a work, “The Anthropology of Global Pentecostalism and Evangelicalism,” which explores the globalization of the Pentecostal and Evangelical movements and the far-reaching impacts these ideologies possess outside of the religious realm. It offers an argument that the movements themselves cause reflections on politics, materiality, morality and law.
Alison Buchan, associate professor in microbiology, and her associated researchers recently published a paper titled “A multitrophic model to quantify the effects of marine viruses on microbial food webs and ecosystem processes.” In other words, Buchan is looking into the effect that viruses can have on microbial communities in the upper level of the ocean when they infect certain microbes and burst the cell from the inside. When they burst the cell, all of the nutrients previously contained within the cell are open to the surrounding microbes in the community to consume. They discovered that viruses can stimulate community productivity and increase the recycling of organic matter.
by Megan Patterson, Arts & Culture Editor
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The Daily Beacon • Thursday, September 24, 2015
WILLIAMS continued from Page 3 Further pursuing the research that formed her doctorate dissertation, Williams is working on a book titled, “Subversive Habits: Black Nuns and the Long Struggle to Desegregate Catholic America,� a seminal study of a long neglected subject of U.S. history. The book will be the result of Williams’ archival research and more than 100 individual interviews, many of which are the testimonies of black nuns themselves as well as individuals who lived and learned alongside them. The tome is intended, as Williams described it, to “chronicle the epic journey of black Catholic nuns in the United States.� “For me, sort of at the core, it is a study of black resistance,� Williams said. “It’s a story of black resistance to white supremacy that we don’t know.� Winford expressed admiration for the work of his colleague and next-door office neighbor, saying the oral testimonies she was able to record “sets her work apart.� “The book itself will become a sort of standard in African-American history, in African-American women’s religious history but just religious history more broadly,� Winford said.
Williams said the goal she has in mind for her book is to break down the ignorance surrounding the role of black women in the Catholic Church, an ignorance she said was echoed over and over in the oral testimonies she recorded. “There are lots of things that I want the work to do, but if everyone in the world can know that not only are there black nuns, but they have been there since the beginning of the Church, then I’m good,� Williams said. Williams is also faithful to her appointment as a sharer of that knowledge in the university classroom. Williams teaches classes across the board of history, involving examinations of women’s, religious, African-American and U.S. histories. Williams is also faithful to her appointment as a sharer of that knowledge in the university classroom. Williams teaches classes across the board of history, involving examinations of women’s, religious, African-American and U.S. histories. “I think I always had the impetus to serve and to serve through education,� Williams said of her chosen profession. “I didn’t know how it would play out, but it has played out in that way.� Winford affirmed Williams’ effectiveness as a teacher and a beacon of knowledge for those who come in contact with her.
“The notion of mentorship is very much in the forefront of how she approaches her role as a historian, how she approaches her role as an advisor to student organization, and how she approaches her interactions with people,� Winford said. “She’s very committed to students.� In her free time, Williams said she enjoys watching tennis alongside her husband of nearly three years and reading the novels of favorite author Beverly Jenkins. However, she said, while she works hard to keep a degree of separation between home and work, the person she is in the office and the classroom is the same person strolling through the East Town Mall’s Sears on a weekend. “The professional Shannen loves history; the private Shannen loves history,� Williams said. As for what comes next, Williams said she already has her sights set on a few new projects, including a global history of black women in the Catholic Church and an examination of the personal repercussions in the lives of pioneering men and women. The future for these ideas is bright, Williams said, thanks to the support she has received so far from the history department at UT. A born Tennessean who swore she was moving on, Williams expressed her excitement to be able to return and serve her
home state through the study of a past in which it played a major role. “I am a native daughter, and it was a wonderful opportunity to be able to come back to the flagship.�
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For me, sort of at the core, it is a study of black resistance. It is a story black resistance to white supremacy that we don’t know.� Shannen Williams, on her in-progress book
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PUZZLES&GAMES
Thursday, September 24, 2015 • The Daily Beacon
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Get Fuzzy • Darby Conley
NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD • Will Shortz
I’m Not A Hipster • John McAmis
Cartoons of The Daily Beacon are the views of the individual and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Beacon or the Beacon’s editorial staff.
ACROSS 1 Bagatelle 7 It often starts in Sept. 10 Buffalo-toBurlington dir. 13 Intoxicated, say 14 Sustainer 16 “It can wait” 17 Great Plains tunneler 18 Boy taking a bow 19 Teeny 21 Bridges 22 X 23 Red state? 24 QB stat: Abbr. 25 It’s a no-no 27 They rarely cover more than two feet in one day 32 Like the breeds Kerry Hill and English Leicester 34 ___ Tomé 35 Last option on some survey questions 36 San Fran team 38 One-third of a fire safety instruction 40 Party to Nafta: Abbr. 41 What “…” may mean: Abbr.
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42 Woodworker’s groove 44 Philadelphia university 46 Roll in the hay? 48 Job for a repo man 49 First-year law course 50 Visionary 53 It can make a row 54 Alternative to the USD 55 What sailors breathe 57 ’60s antiwar grp. 60 Bouquet 63 German boy’s name meaning “wealthy” 64 One of a geographical septet 65 Do-it-yourselfer’s activity 67 One of the Kennedys 69 Charges, as with a responsibility 70 Walk laboriously 71 Retreats 72 Vetoes 73 Sibling duo in “Lady, Be Good!,” 1924
W A T E T I A M F O R N I A S T Y O S E T E O R O M R I T H I M B H T A B E E N I I M T R O N O S T A R A I N A W F A L L
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1 I.Q. test pioneer 2 Andrea Bocelli’s 2006 platinumselling album 3 1943 Pulitzerwinning novelist for “Dragon’s Teeth” 4 Wee ’uns in Scotland 5 “Seinfeld” uncle 6 Astronomer Hubble 7 Complimentary adjective for a grandpa 8 Easy ___ 9 Raises 10 Ancient Norse work 11 10 on a table 12 Physics units 14 1970s TV series set at 165 Eaton Place 15 Subatomic particle
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20 Line on a restaurant check 23 Edgar Bergen’s dummy of old radio 24 In progress 26 Elephant’s tail? 28 Sculler’s implement 29 Gas station supply … or what can be found eight times in this puzzle? 30 Prepared to engage? 31 Classifies in one of two groups, in a way 32 End of an era? 33 Essential 37 Mythical hybrid 39 Common allergen 43 1950 film noir starring Edmond O’Brien
45 Repeated word finishing “Everywhere a …” 47 Leveling tool 51 Best in a race 52 Vietnamese New Year 56 Main line 58 Tune you’re unlikely to dance to 59 Fills 60 Silverstein who wrote “A Boy Named Sue” 61 1997 Nicolas Cage film 62 Producers of many revivals, for short 63 Decides (to) 64 Be contiguous 66 That: Sp. 68 Hosp. areas
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VIEWPOINTS
The Daily Beacon • Thursday, September 24, 2015
An instructor’s ability to change lives Adam Weatherall Dreaming of Dolly
A lot of people would call me a cynic, but I would call a lot of people names that The Daily Beacon won’t let me print. It’s a fine line in this weekly column I pull out of my … you know. I strive to be poignant, witty and smarter than that idiot spouting nationalism. If only because I’ve procrastinated until the point of no return, I just write what I think is funny. What I think is funny is more often cynical than not. Fortunately, I also grew up in the South, which despite its synchronized fireflies, cheap liquor and monolithic roadside crucifixes, leaves a lot to be cynical about. This week, however, I’m going to try and swallow my festering rage. I’m going to forget about U.S. judges violating establishment clauses or presidential candidates dismissing entire religions. I’m not even going to mention how inconvenienced I am that the government is shutting down because John Boehner is taking cues from idiots who are so incredulously misinformed that they think physicians are unequivocally intelligent and are still wearing white after labor day. Idiots. No. Today I want to talk about William Jennings; Dr. William Jennings, that is. Before asking me if I want to go to law school, a lot of people ask me why I am a political science and
Africana studies dual major. To which I respond with a host of well-rehearsed lines about the inevitability of African labor market dominance and interesting cultural tidbits in excruciatingly verbose vernacular in an effort to overwhelm and distract the listener from the truth — I just really liked Dr. Jennings’ class. There were times my first semester that I really began to question my “VFL” status in lieu of a “VF-Maybe one more week; we’ll see what Vanderbilt says.” Dr. Jennings changed my mind to such a degree that he’s the answer to my Regions bank security question. He is the only pet/movie/person that I can commitedly say is my favorite. Were it not for him I would still be resorting to mother’s maiden names and outdated middle school crushes to solve my security woes. At least for me, what sets D.J. apart from most other professors is his ability to make me viscerally uncomfortable. While he still jokes, a lot of his subject matter deals with asphyxiating sorrow. The Rwandan Genocide, Indian Brothels, apartheid — all innately morose subjects that make me feel uncomfortable.* *At the crux of his teaching is the notion of, “This is how the world benefits you at the disadvantage of them.” This was the message that altogether extinguished my pre-med track, and prompted a course
of learning that would extend beyond materialistic wealth and privilege to one spent *hopefully* charting a difference elsewhere. Most importantly, he also lets me be late from time to time and laughs when I turn in papers riddled with coffee stains. He also returned my laptop after I lost my laptop for A VERY STRESSFUL three hours. There are a lot of classes that are just downright idiotic — like a mandatory communications class — but Dr. Jennings classes are both challenging and rewarding. Not only does his class have pre-bound books, but he also doesn’t force upon you asinine speech competitions. I feel fortunate that I should have ever happened upon his class, because I can say without a doubt that it changed my life. I could very well have been a premed student at Vanderbilt with a hellishly high student debt and a pompous understanding of the world. Alas, I signed up for a Jennings, and now I’m forever stuck explaining to my father why it’s okay to not be a neurosurgeon, despite my unequivocal intelligence. Go Vols. Adam Weatherell is a junior in political science and Africana studies. He can be reached at aweath10@vols.utk.edu.
Inequality: Tenure-Seeking Professors vs. Adjunct Faculty Members Summer Awad Quite Contrary
Did you know you could look online to see how much money your professors make? Well, it’s true. They’re public employees, and so their business is apparently our business. To help us with our super snooping skills, the Knoxville News Sentinel compiles an annual searchable database of salaries for UT employees. Been wondering how your physics professor can afford such a fancy watch? Type in their name, and start crunching the numbers. I find myself searching this database on occasion due to boredom or late-night curiosities. It can be quite rewarding on a midterm week like this one to discover that the professor who assigned that 10-page paper makes a few dollars less than the others. What is perhaps more interesting than merely comparing figures for funsies, though, is what our professors’ salaries say about our society’s values. Take for instance the apparent pay gap between STEM fields and the humanities. At UT, the head of the physics department makes a hefty $228,977.00 annually, while the history department head takes home $149,816.00 per year. The difference is less drastic when comparing the chemistry and sociology department heads, but the gap is still there. In some cases, even my most esteemed humanities professors make less than my worst STEM professors (although admittedly I have a small STEM sample size). I know what you’re thinking: surely my amateur survey, with no methodology to speak of, can’t tell us much about broad social disparities. And you’re
right. As much fun as this database is, there are some things it can’t show us. Among those are the salaries of adjunct faculty members. You may not even know what an adjunct faculty member is, much less whether or not you have one teaching your class. Try searching one in the database, and you come up empty. Adjunct faculty members are hired on a contractual, part-time basis. This means they have no job security and no path to receiving tenure. Their job performance comes under scrutiny often every year, and their classes can be canceled at the last minute without notice. Adjuncts are making up an increasing proportion of college faculty nationwide as institutions work on tighter budgets. According to a November 2013 article in the Huffington Post, adjuncts earn between $20,000-$25,000 annually, compared with an average faculty salary of $84,000. 60 percent of adjuncts report working more than one job, and many struggle to put food on the table. Last spring, adjunct faculty from UT and Pellissippi State participated in an “Adjunct Teach-Out” to raise awareness about these issues, and there is growing discontent among adjuncts across the country as they teach heavy course loads while struggling to feed themselves. The database also cannot directly reveal disparities based on gender, but research shows us that they are there. The American Association of University Professors released data in 2009 that showed that female faculty members still make, on average, 81
cents to their male colleagues’ dollar. A 2015 study at the University of California Berkeley indicates that this might be related to the STEM and humanities gap I mentioned earlier, since STEM fields are maledominated and vice-versa. Whatever the cause, this disparity exists and is unacceptable. In case you were wondering why we still need feminism. So, by all means, use this special issue of the Beacon as the impetus to treat your professors well. Send them a nice note to thank them for getting you through a rough semester or inspiring you to follow your dreams. Respect your professors’ hard work by being on time and not texting in their classes (regretfully guilty on both counts). Do all this for your professors and more. But if we as a society really want to appreciate our faculty — young and old, male and female, tenured and adjunct — we need to give them equal pay for equal work. Peruse the database when you’re bored and question what the numbers mean. Demand that the university release data on salary equity and the ratio of tenure-track to adjunct professors. And please, for the love of the Vols, evaluate your instructors at the end of the semester. You never know how much they might need it. Summer Awad is a senior in College Scholars. She can be reached at sawad@vols.utk.edu.
Columns of The Daily Beacon are the views of the individual and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Beacon or the Beacon’s editorial staff.
MEETTHEPROFESSORS
LARSEN continued from Page 4 Larsen has a lecture style that involves a lot of energetic, high volume discussion and outbursts, but Christian said this is just part of his charm. “It doesn’t really feel like he’s lecturing,” Christian explained. “It feels more like he’s having a conversation with you.” While his gruff persona is slightly unintentional, the personal connection that Larsen puts into teaching is not. As a distinguished lecturer, Larsen is not a professor on the tenure track — so unlike professors who split their time between teaching and publishing, Larsen is hired fully to teach. Lecturers are given four classes to be fulltime, compared to professors’ two classes. Despite this heavy workload, Larsen said he enjoys making contact with as many students as possible. Although teaching wasn’t always his professional ambition, Larsen said he found a passion for it during his undergraduate education in political science at Notre Dame. Instead of graduating when he was supposed to, he got into the secondary education program and signed up to be a student teacher to stay longer and take more classes. “I was going to go to law school, but I was
Thursday, September 24, 2015 • The Daily Beacon burnt out as a student. I was tired of classes, so I thought, ‘Alright, I’ll teach for a few years.’ As I used to say to classes, ‘I’m still waiting to figure out what I want to do when I grow up,’” Larsen said. After a few years of teaching social studies at New York high schools, Larsen went on to get his masters in English, both to be a certified teacher in two areas and as an opportunity to pursue his lifelong passion for writing. After 20 years of teaching in high school and two recommendations from college professors that he pursue a Ph.D., Larsen finally made the leap. He applied to 19 schools, and eight or nine offered money. “Out of those, four gave me the most money: UT, Hawaii, Kansas and Purdue. So I called Hawaii first,” Larsen laughed. The cost of living there proved infeasible, however, and Hawaii recommended he call Tennessee next. The people he spoke to on the phone for UT were so nice he never called the other schools. Without visiting the area once, Larsen signed on to the program and prepared to move. Now it’s Larsen’s 26th year at UT, and he’s decided teaching is what he’s meant to do. “I don’t know if I’m good at it or not,” Larsen admitted. “I have no idea. I can’t answer that. Students have to answer that. But it’s been fun.” His main goal remains capturing students’ attention, and forcing them out of their aca-
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demic comfort zone. “I realize the thing is don’t put a grade on things; it’s discouraging enough to look at all the marks,” Larsen said. “People don’t want to write. They don’t like writing, and they want to get it over with as quickly as possible. Now more and more, it’s harder than ever because everyone texts and everything is short. It’s almost like the world is learning journalistic writing. ‘Bam, bam, boom, over.’ But that’s not academic writing; you have to explain.” Whether it is a film class or a screenwriting class, Larsen said he wants students to find a connection with material without stressing over their GPA. “What can you do to make things relevant to people?” Larsen asked. “Even when I’m teaching the film classes, it’s like okay we studied this thing, this thing and this history thing, but how can you hook this into your own life?” Ultimately, the students themselves, outside of their abilities, remain Larsen’s biggest concern. “Mostly I want them to find something where they can look in the mirror, and say ‘Hey I’m not as plain and ordinary as I thought I was,’” Larsen said. “That’s the one thing about being harder. People will tell you that ‘I’m glad you didn’t just say, ‘Oh this was nice.’ When you say it’s good. That must mean it’s good.’”
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MEETTHEPROFESSORS
The Daily Beacon • Thursday, September 24, 2015
YOU’RE NO CUP OF TEA EITHER Professors have pet peeves, too.
John Stier, associate dean in the college of agricultural sciences and natural resources:
Kathy Knight, lecturer in Spanish: “Telephones in class.You think we don’t see you look.But we do.”
Michael McKinney, director of environmental studies and sustainability: “Everybody knows that I’m a really friendly guy that likes people,but there’s just one thing that drives me nuts,and that is the students who tell me they’re going to do something,and they don’t do it.I frequently have students who help me with my research,and promise to do a project that’s really important,and they just trickle off and don’t finish it.It’s really common.I’m sympathetic,but the truth is that it just drives me crazy.”
Wanessa Martin, lecturer in Portugese:
Lisa King, assistant professor in English:
Matthew Pamental, lecturer in philosophy:
Tracy Moir-McClean, associate professor in architecture:
Margaret Lazarus Dean, director of creative writing and associate professor in English:
“I’ve almost gotten to be un-peevable ...life’s too short.”
“When students explain that they didn’t do work for my class by saying they were busy doing work for another class.It’s like saying,‘oh,your class is less important.’”
Misty Anderson, professor in English and adjunct professor in theatre:
Theodora Kopestonsky, lecturer in classics: “I don’t mind answering questions,but it is frustrating when all of the information is written on the syllabus and has been gone over in class.”
“1.Getting to and from classes from the Ag side of campus to east side of campus in the 15 minutes between classes.Students often have to leave early and/or arrive late. 2.Parking.This is probably universal.”
“Basic things,like people who call you‘miss’when it’s very clear that you’re‘doctor.’You know,I worked very hard for that degree,but maybe that’s more of an untenured faculty peeve.”
“E-mails that start with,‘Hey,Misty’when I don’t even know who you are.I have students who use my first name,and that’s fine,but not when I have no idea who you are.”
“Not taking responsibility for work you didn’t do.There’s nothing wrong with saying you didn’t do it.That’s your right,but it’s also your responsibility.”
“It’s a peeve when students ask in the middle of the semester if an assigned article is in the text book they haven’t bought yet.”