Minor, Robinson and Scarborough named Presidential Teaching Professors

by Joe King and Mark McGowan

Teaching, when done well, opens minds, inspires thought and molds leaders.

Proof of success can come through following where students go, what they achieve and how they make their own differences. Yet proof also can come from listening to what former students say about their former professors.

Such is the case with NIU's annual Presidential Teaching Professors, chosen with particular emphasis on the words of those they took under their wing.

This year's Presidential Teaching Professors—Carole Minor from the Department of Counseling, Adult and Health Education, Rhonda Robinson from the Department of Educational Research, Technology and Assessment and Jule Scarborough from the Department of Technology—are popular educators.

"Those comments are extraordinary," Interim Vice Provost Robert Wheeler said. "They come from students who have no stake in the matter, and they are unbelievably positive about those who are selected as the winners. It is that final stage in the process that is absolutely meaningful."

Begun in 1990, Presidential Teaching Professorships recognize outstanding teachers among the faculty. Each receives a boost in salary as well as a grant of $5,000 per year for their four-year appointment to help improve their teaching. After four years, they become Distinguished Teaching Professors.

Here is a closer look at this year's three.

Carole Minor

Carole Minor

Carole Minor was teaching high school mathematics in Georgia during the time of the Vietnam War, when universities in that state began to require geometry for enrollment. "A lot of people were taking more math than they had planned. Many people had a hard time with it, particularly with geometry. It was a frustrating experience," Minor remembered.

"I would stay after school and try to help them, but it was still very hard for some of them. They would then associate me with that negative experience. I decided that instead of being associated in people's minds with something difficult, I wanted to be associated with helping them—so I decided to go into counseling."

Minor pursued a master's degree in counselor education at Florida State University, and found encouragement there to continue on to teach at the college level, later earning a doctorate in counseling at the University of Maryland. "My career development was facilitated by my mentors in both my master's and doctoral programs," she said. "That's what I want to do for my students."

Students in her career development and career decision-making classes rarely hear lectures. Minor uses readings, classroom activities and other experiences to stimulate their learning, following up with discussions and small group interaction.

"For example, I sometimes divide the class into different sections for different periods in the lifespan," she said. "I have each member of the group interview several people of a particular age. We then look at characteristics of people at different ages, whether people look at their careers differently at different ages and what those similarities and differences illustrate about the theories we had examined."

Minor, who came to NIU in 1981, also develops materials and media to help instructors in training counselors to deal with career issues.

She recently co-edited a book of experiential activities to use in teaching career counseling and is beginning work on a second. Over the years she has developed several video tapes used in career classes and has begun work on a new series.

Minor also has served as president of the National Career Development Association and now serves on the Board of Directors for the Council for the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs. At NIU, she was the 1998 recipient of the Wilma Strickland Award for improving the campus climate for women.

Becoming a Presidential Teaching Professor is thrilling, she said.

"I was so astounded I could barely speak when I heard about it. The students' comments and the students' support are what really mean the most to me."

Rhonda Robinson

As a middle-school teacher of English and language arts in the 1970s, Rhonda Robinson taught during a "very media-inundated time in education." "I was very interested in film and video and with my students—I taught seventh- and eighth-grade—did a unit on television production. We talked about advertising appeals and how you understand the news. We wrote newspapers and made a news show," said Robinson, a professor in the Department of Educational Research, Technology and Assessment. "We got to using a lot of video in the classroom."

Rhonda Robinson

Robinson decided to pursue a second master's degree in communications, but instead was pointed to a program in educational communications at her alma mater, the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

After a year in the master's program, she chose to make it a doctorate. The woman in charge of the program eventually asked Robinson to become a teaching assistant.

"She said, `There's only so much you learn from going to classes. There are other ways you learn by doing this,' " Robinson recalled. "I realized what it would be like to teach adults instead of seventh-graders and, once I realized how wonderful it could be, I never went back. It was just so much fun to be in a classroom where people were here because they wanted to learn what you were teaching. These are people who are challenging. They want to learn more. They're taking time off from their jobs and their families. They're driven, and they're committed."

Robinson came to NIU in 1980. She previously advised all master's degree students, coordinated internships and still teaches courses in research and visual literacy, a multi-disciplinary approach to understanding visual communications.

Her approach to teaching is reminiscent of the advice she received during her doctoral work.

"When you start as a new doc student, the expectations for your learning are more on the professor. As we move further on in those seminars, it's the professor's responsibility to turn that responsibility more and more over to the students," she said. "Students lead discussions, summarize readings, take responsibility for a topic area and help students learn that topic area. They go from being students to being teachers of that same material themselves. My job is to add to it."

Currently on sabbatical, and conducting research on how well teachers are integrating technology into their classrooms, Robinson is honored by the recognition. Her reward, however, comes simply from teaching.

"The reward was doing the work," she said. "The reward was getting to know these people well and to work with them so closely."

Jule Scarborough

Jule Scarborough

Jule Scarborough's selection as a Presidential Teaching Professor is no surprise to those who know her well. "She's always out there visiting other universities and going to workshops, always working to hone her teaching skills," said Cliff Mirman, chair of the Department of Technology. "She always goes the extra mile for the students."

That may be true, admitted Scarborough, but those extra miles are part of a journey she enjoys. "Teachers must be seekers of knowledge at heart, comfortable acknowledging what they do not know and seeking to engage in new initiatives that stretch their abilities," she said.

Her own willingness to do so keeps her excited about teaching.

"I think every single class I've ever taught was a guinea pig class. I'm always trying new things; it keeps me motivated. If I'm learning along with my students, I stay challenged and interested," she said.

Scarborough always has maintained a well-deserved reputation as a demanding professor, but her students don't seem to mind.

"She makes students work and holds them to a very high standard, but they respond to her," Mirman said. "When a student comes back to visit, hers is the first office they go to, and they always say that what they learned in her classes is what they use the most on a day-to-day basis."

Scarborough began her career at NIU in 1981, teaching a variety of technical courses. She was the first to teach computer-aided design here and developed the automation lab at the College of Engineering and Engineering Technology. Her current work is in leadership, management and international business.

She also has worked to reform math, science and technology education at the secondary level in Illinois, leading a team that has secured more than $8 million in grants over the last 20 years to introduce new teaching experiences to teachers throughout the state.

While she has received other teaching awards, Scarborough said this one is particularly meaningful.

"This is probably the most important honor I have received, because I believe that student development is one of our most important responsibilities," she said.

"You are always much better when you have good people influencing and supporting you, and I owe a great deal of thanks to many people for this award. I always have had wonderful teaching and graduate assistants. I have benefited greatly from the help of professional staff across campus. And I have been blessed with leadership that has always allowed me to pursue new ideas and move in new directions. I've always considered it a privilege to be a member of the faculty at NIU."