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Issue 2 / Winter 13
Ringing Far & Near - William & Mary
In the spring of 2008, Joseph Plumeri ’66, D.P.S. ’11 made a significant commitment to the quality of education at William & Mary. He created the Plumeri Awards for Faculty Excellence, providing $10,000 stipends to 20 faculty members each year to help advance their scholarly projects. His goal, he said, was to empower professors “to work passionately to challenge the minds of our exceptional students.” In other words, Mr. Plumeri chose to support great teaching through an investment in research.
The strategy, which has now benefited dozens of faculty members, recognized a distinctive strength at the heart of the university — the seamless integration of the work professors do in the classroom with their endeavors in the lab, the library and the studio.
Rich Rewards
“At William & Mary, our faculty members embody the ideal of the scholar-teacher,” explains Kate Slevin, vice provost for academic affairs. “They are committed both to discovering and to sharing knowledge, and we tend not to draw sharp distinctions between these two missions.”
It is a model that offers compelling advantages. Faculty who are active in research bring unique authority and currency to their teaching. By involving students as apprentices in their research, faculty introduce them to the enterprise of scholarly investigation, with all its thrills and challenges.
The experience provides students an invaluable preparation for life after William & Mary, says Slevin. “Certainly for all our many students whose plans include graduate study, the chance to take part in substantive research as undergraduates is an enormous advantage. But even for those headed in other directions, what could be more useful than this in-depth exercise in investigation, problem solving and the pursuit of complex, open-ended projects?”
Faculty-student collaboration takes many forms, in the lab and far beyond. In the Department of Kinesiology and Health Sciences, Professor Michael Deschenes has published 49 articles in peer-reviewed journals, with undergraduate students as co-authors on 45 of them. In the Department of Theatre, Speech & Dance, Assistant Professor Leah Glenn says the student role is different but vital. “When I choreograph a new work, my students are deeply involved. They are the bodies in space, and in that sense my co-creators, with a real sense of ownership.”
Stellar Students
For faculty, collaboration offers rewards as well, the most frequently cited being the chance to work with inspiring young people. “These students are unique,” says Assistant Professor Paul Bhasin, director of bands in the Department of Music. “I’ve never seen another group invest so much of their energies into their studies. If I ask them to explore a topic, I’m shocked at how far they go.”
Ravi Gupta, associate professor of religious studies, concurs. “There’s always a bottom 10 percent — except at William & Mary. Every person in my class does the work and does their best. Teachers love working with students who take their subjects seriously.”
Exploring protein damage and its effects
Chemistry Professor Lisa Landino investigates oxidative damage to proteins and its effect in neurodegeneration, work with relevance to diseases including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
Through their research, scholarship and creative work, William & Mary faculty pursue a range of fascinating projects, often in collaboration with their students.
Translating a sacred text
Associate Professor of Religious Studies Ravi Gupta is completing a translation, to be published by Columbia University Press, of the Bhagavata Purana, one of India’s most sacred Sanskrit texts.
Through their research, scholarship and creative work, William & Mary faculty pursue a range of fascinating projects, often in collaboration with their students.
Adapting Classical Works
Assistant Professor and Director of Bands Paul Bhasin adapts classical works for performance by brass ensembles and leads members of world-class symphonic groups in performing his adaptations.
Through their research, scholarship and creative work, William & Mary faculty pursue a range of fascinating projects, often in collaboration with their students.
We sit down with Kate Slevin, Chancellor Professor of Sociology and Vice Provost
What’s special about the culture of teaching at William & Mary?
The hallmark of William & Mary is the attention to the individual. We give every student ample opportunity for intensive, interactive experiences in small classes. We encourage strong personal relationships with faculty. We make it very difficult to fall through the cracks. You’d have to work overtime.
By the time they graduate, every William & Mary student should be able to approach several professors who know them well enough to write a fabulous, in-depth letter of recommendation.
Tell us about the kind of faculty you look to hire.
We’re very selective about who we hire, and our first criterion is people for whom teaching is important. We seek faculty members who really believe that being a scholar-teacher is critical to their life’s mission. They can be the most accomplished and widely published researcher in the world. But if they are not passionate about teaching, they will not be a good fit for us.
What part do financial resources play in supporting faculty excellence?
First, I should say that we are competing with the best — and the best endowed — universities in the country for the faculty we hire, and we are operating under constraints. We’ve had a salary freeze for four years and very tight budgets for travel and research support. You could say we’re overachieving to a high degree.
This means that new funding in every form has an enormous positive impact. Whether it’s an endowed position or monies we can use to support faculty projects, it can make all the difference in bringing great people to William & Mary and empowering them to do their best work.
William & Mary’s student-faculty ratio, one of the lowest among U.S. public universities.
The percentage of classes taught by full-time faculty members rather than by adjuncts or graduate assistants. Recent data puts the national average at 42 percent.
The number of William & Mary faculty who have received Outstanding Faculty Awards from the Commonwealth of Virginia — more than any other college or university in the state.
The average annual total in external research funding awarded to William & Mary faculty — an amount that covers 80 percent of all research costs at the university.
William & Mary coaches like Peel Hawthorne '80 serve as mentors for student-athletes.
“Professors form lasting relationships with students and have an enormous influence,” says Matt Crispino ’02, William & Mary head swimming coach. “But there is something special about the opportunity you have as a coach.”
Peel Hawthorne ’80, now in her 26th year as head field hockey coach, agrees. “We spend so much time with our athletes — hundreds of hours. We see them tired and pushing themselves to the limit, and their true character comes out.”
That extended contact provides the chance to know athletes exceptionally well and to teach lessons that go beyond stick handling or stroke mechanics — lessons in leadership, character and perseverance. The impact can be profound.
“I’m still in touch with Nancy Porter, my own coach from when I played at William & Mary,” says Hawthorne. “She’s an influence in my life to this day.”
Some of the rewards of coaching at William & Mary would be familiar to coaches elsewhere. But, says Hawthorne, others set William & Mary apart. “First, there are the student-athletes. These are kids on their way to great lives, and you have the privilege of helping them take their next steps. Second, there is the shared sense of mission. As coaches, we’re aware of our role within the university and we embrace the same educational goals. That’s something that’s just not true everywhere.”
"Last year, I took 16 William & Mary dance students to the township of Khayelitsha in Cape Town, South Africa, for a five-week, service-learning experience. We studied with South African dance pioneers, and we partnered with local middle school children, teaching them dance and performing together. It was a remarkable opportunity, inspiring for the eighth-grade township students and our students as well. I can’t tell you how proud I was of both groups."
Leah Glenn / associate professor of dance
"As a faculty member, I get fired up when my students are fired up, and at William & Mary that’s all the time. The material I teach keeps me motivated, but the really powerful force is the students’ motivation. It creates a dynamic — a cycle of enthusiasm — that feeds on itself. That enthusiasm turns teaching from a task into a passion.”
Nancy Combs / professor of law, vice dean and director of the Human Security Law Center
"I see my swimmers over four years, six times a week or more, traveling together, competing together. It’s a chance to be a part of their total development and to see their growth as people. For me, the ultimate reward is seeing the finished product — the amazing, capable, confident young people this university graduates. It’s knowing at the end of four years you’ve played a role in helping to prepare them for great things to come."
Matt Crispino ’02 / head swimming coach
Studying the evolution of fishes
Associate Professor of Marine Science Eric Hilton studies the evolutionary history, anatomy, and genetics of many groups of fishes such as the endangered Atlantic sturgeon, informing efforts to protect a fish once vital to life in coastal Virginia.
Through their research, scholarship and creative work, William & Mary faculty pursue a range of fascinating projects, often in collaboration with their students.