In Starring Roles
At the heart of every university is the faculty. These talented men and women share passion for their subjects and transform lives every day and every year of their careers. At Northwood University, we are fortunate to have an extraordinary faculty. Look for your favorite professor to star in upcoming issues. We hope it will take you back to your time on campus and you will remember your exceptional teachers and what is was like as you transformed from a student to a professional.
Thomas Alexander, Banking & Finance
Websters uses several definitions for "teach" such as: 1 a: to cause to know something; b: to cause to know how; c: to accustom to some action or attitude As a teacher, I cannot "cause" anyone to know something or to know how. A teacher is not an "imparter" of knowledge. The best teacher can only guide a student's investigation of some body of knowledge and attempt to inspire that student to learn by deeply thinking and acting for him/herself. I am a math major with over 30 years of experience in management, finance, leadership, operations, and education. I have an MBA and currently teach mostly finance classes. My hobbies are woodworking and overall handyman activities. I have been happily married for 34 years and have a wonderful adult child (talk about two learning experiences!). I guess my favorite subject is "life." I admit that my students consider me to be very demanding. I attempt to guide the student learning experience, but firmly expect the students to put in the hard work and study necessary to learn and grasp whatever they are working on at the time. I believe that, in most cases, the best way to answer a student question is to answer it with another leading question. Does this always work? No, but when it does, the student is better off and is headed to becoming a leader in our society. I especially enjoy teaching in the student-led collaboration and discussion pedagogy. It is much more difficult on the teacher than lecturing, but the successes are wonderful when I am able to get the students to buy into the methodology. Hopefully, my students will remember me as someone who inspired them to think for themselves and realize that they can do whatever they want to do in life and can learn whatever they wish to learn. My best experiences are when students have personal success in the classroom, in their career hunt, or in their career. An example would be when a student takes one of their major finance projects as part of their portfolio to a job interview -- and they get the comment, "This is great; I have never seen this kind of work done by an undergrad before!" Another example would be when a grad student came to class one evening and said, "Darn you Alexander, you caused me to get promoted!" Asking me what "causes" I am passionate about is somewhat like asking me what food I am passionate about. I am passionate about the food I am presently eating -- of course! Life is a continuing series of causes, and if you are going to have any effect on that "cause," then you must be passionate about that cause at that time and do whatever activities you find necessary or available to support that cause. "Living" is a cause -- stay healthy, exercise, be ethical, be honest, be forthright, etc. -- and never stop learning new bodies of knowledge, wherever your passion may lie at the time. Catherine Bush, Ph.D., DeVos Graduate School
At DeVos we design our curriculum around helping people in their transformation toward being more effective as leaders. As teachers, we really get to see this transformation happen in various ways throughout an individual course and throughout their program. It is very fulfilling to know you have made a difference in helping someone to be more confident and effective in their lives. I am lucky in that I get to teach in the "behavior" curriculum at DeVos. This series of courses is designed to get people thinking about the impact they have on other people, and the most effective way to interact with people as leaders, co-workers, and subordinates, so that they maximize the work outcomes. It gives people a chance to look at themselves and to think about others in a way they have not really done before. There are lots of great insights that come from this. The DeVos methodology is used by all of the faculty at DeVos, although we each have our own style and creative approaches. This involves facilitation of a discussion which is led by students. They tell me that my enthusiasm for the subject adds a lot of energy to the four-hour meetings, and I like to change things up throughout the class so that people don't get restless and everyone gets an opportunity to engage in the learning and apply their ideas. I am told by alumni they constantly are reminded of things they learned when they are working with others in the workplace, so I think the applied discussions and activities seem to be very valuable to them. I am sure my students know that I am very invested in their success and I am supportive of their learning. I am told that I am tough and they have to work really hard to earn a good grade, but that they know I care and want them to get the most from their experience. It probably sounds weird, but I love graduation. For the vast majority of the students I see on graduation day, there is an obvious pride of knowing they worked hard and earned something very valuable. For me it is great to know I had a small part in that. I have a few philosophies that I am quite passionate about. One is that I don't believe people are victims. I believe you have choices, and it is a waste of time to blame others for the things that happen to you. If a student or colleague comes to me with an issue, the discussion will focus on what he is going to do to address it. Another philosophy I have is that people can create a great work environment for themselves and their co-workers. It is a matter of choosing to be positive rather than letting the negatives get in your way. The worst thing we do at work is to bad-mouth people behind their backs, and most people who know me have heard me encourage them to give feedback and make an investment in their co-workers. Finally, I have a leadership philosophy that I try to instill in people around me. That is, leadership is about the followers, not about the leader. So much of my work in leadership development and coaching leaders has shown me it is the leaders who get caught up in themselves who create really ineffective work groups. The leaders we admire and respect are the ones who can see our needs and the needs of the organization, rather than just their own self-interest.
