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Patrick Duffie

Patrick Duffie

Title: Senior Lecturer, Biology and Director of the Undergraduate Program, LUC Department of Biology

Dr. Patrick Duffie has been a member of Loyola University Chicago’s Department of Biology for twenty-six years. Over the course of this period, he has always recognized the immense value of student diversity to the teaching process and experience.

“My elementary school, junior high, high school, and college were all very homogenous, I think, in terms of the student population. So it wasn’t until I came to Chicago, and Loyola in particular, that I really got exposed to a lot of different people.  That, I’ve found, is the most interesting aspect of Loyola. Just hearing where kids are from, what they do, what their backgrounds are, what they’re bringing to Loyola...it makes every semester interesting.”  

Because many of his students are freshmen, Dr. Duffie strives to create an academic environment that is “relaxed and comfortable” but also pervaded by enthusiasm for the discipline. Hence, Duffie models his pedagogical practices upon those of the teachers whose courses he most enjoyed and found beneficial: 

“In terms of teaching practices, I try to teach the way it has worked for me. I try to show the students that this can be fun, lecture class can be fun. I want participation, which is sometimes hard in biology when our classes get a little bit larger, but I want students to feel like they can approach me. Because I predominantly teach freshmen, I try to instill in them an enjoyment for the course so they can build a good foundation and like what they’re doing. I’ve always tried to make it relaxed, interesting, and not the end of the world because Biology One and Biology Two are just the beginning.”  

Hence, Dr. Duffie has effectively combined a vehement enthusiasm for his discipline and students with a fervent commitment to Loyola University Chicago's Ignatian principles and mission of global progress. Such a combination is to be celebrated particularly as Dr. Duffie reaches his twenty-sixth anniversary of service to Loyola in 2016.

Interview by Andrew Kelly

Student Worker, Faculty Center for Ignatian Pedagogy

 

Catherine Nichols

Title:

Lecturer in Cultural Anthropology and Museum Studies, Department of Anthropology

Loyola website:

http://www.luc.edu/anthropology/faculty/drcatherineanichols/ 

Length of time at Loyola:

Since February, 2014

Catherine Nichols earned her Ph.D. in Socio-Cultural Anthropology from Arizona State University in 2014.  While she misses the weekend hiking excursions that the geography of Arizona provided, she credits Loyola University Chicago with expanding her thoughts on effective teaching practices. 

“Prior to joining Loyola, my experience in academia never addressed or prioritized teaching.  I’m grateful that Loyola has given me so many resources on ways to teach, and engagement with the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm has been really empowering.  The emphases on context, reflection, and action have particularly made me a much stronger teacher for my students.  It’s been great.” 

Along with the courses she teaches in Anthropology and Museum Studies, Catherine also oversees the May Weber Collection, an extensive ethnographic art collection comprised of about 2,500 objects assembled by Chicago collector and psychiatrist May Weber.  The curation of the collection is guided by the University’s commitment to Ignatian pedagogy, transformative education, and social responsibility.

“My students are the lifeblood of this collection.  They’re doing the cataloguing and researching of the material.  In the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm, we talk about context and how each student brings different life experience and interests to what they’re doing.  I always try and create opportunities for students to share what they know with others.  That’s a really effective method for learning in the collection.” 

Catherine’s innovative teaching methods have also helped students discover ways that their coursework at Loyola relates to real world experiences.  Her museum studies class affords students the opportunity to work with a museum collection and cultural objects for the first time.  One of her students reflected in a blog post that she realized the legitimacy of their coursework when they visited the Field Museum and discovered that the same practices were being employed in a professional setting. 

The student wrote, “I believe I have found my calling within the May Weber Collection. Rehousing artifacts ensures their safety and longevity. It is an integral part of the accession process and one that I hope to continue.” 

As an anthropologist, Catherine takes the call for social justice seriously and is grateful to work for a university that places such an emphasis on social justice work.  “I see my work as trying to unearth histories and share that information with native peoples, so they can go about the process of repatriating their cultural property.  I want students to take away from my classes a self-awareness of how they can shape their future actions to address social problems.”  

Michael Welch, JD

Title:

Senior Instructor, Quinlan School of Business

Loyola website:

http://www.luc.edu/quinlan/executive-education/faculty/michaelwelchjd/

Michael Welch’s journey to becoming a senior instructor in the Quinlan School of Business is one he calls “interesting.” After being an attorney for nearly thirty years for large companies such as Quaker Oats Company and Pepsi, he knew he wanted to transition into a teaching role. He found himself as an adjunct for three semesters before becoming a full-time professor, a position he has held for ten years.

He confessed he did not know much about the Ignatian Pedagogy before starting at Loyola, but has since embraced the particular teaching plan.

“I try to use it in all of the classes I have, but the one where Ignatian Pedagogy is the most useful is the Microenterprise Consulting class I teach,” said Welch. “So the students go in and they consult with the clients on an ongoing basis throughout the semester and at the end of that semester they write a full blown business plan for these people who want to start their own businesses.”

Through the process of understanding the contexts and experiences of these particular people, as well as reflection through journaling, Welch and his classes have helped many people around the city. One example is a gentleman named Solomon Abebe, an Ethiopian refugee who had come to the U.S. and drove a cab before Welch’s Microenterprise Consulting class helped him open up a butcher shop along N. Sheridan and Argyle in Chicago.

“For the students, when you write a business plan and then you go up to somebody’s place of business and see your plan in operation…there’s a great sense of satisfaction,” said Welch. “In terms of seeing what they can do and then seeing him be successful enough to expand his business has been outstanding.”

Welch credits Ignatian Pedagogy and its influence for the success of his students.

“One of the things that has really struck me about Ignatian pedagogy is the whole idea of accompaniment,” said Welch. “To be able to literally be a part of their lives and to understand where they’re coming from and to translate those things to the consulting process and to a real life business is probably one of the biggest and most joyful surprises that the students get out of the class.”

Interview and article by Amanda McDonald, Undergraduate Work-Study Student
Video by Amaechi Ugwu, Graduate Intern
Faculty Center for Ignatian Pedagogy

Alyson Paige Warren

Title:

Instructor, Department of English

Loyola website:

http://luc.edu/english/writinginstructors/alysonpaigewarren.shtml  

Alyson Paige Warren obtained her MFAW from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and applies her expertise in creative writing both in her capacity as an Adjunct Instructor in Loyola’s Department of English and as a writer and illustrator of children’s books.

“I’ve definitely been a reader and a writer for as long as I can remember.”

As a member of the English Department, Alyson emphasizes the central role of student involvement in her teaching and assessment practices.

“I consider myself a constructivist. I want to teach the students what they are here to learn and make them a part of that process. I know that listening and being available to students is part of Ignatian pedagogy. I try to be available to them in as many ways as possible and also to support them in as many ways as possible.”

Essential to this effort, Alyson contends, is her employment of a wide variety of “alternative teaching practices” designed to allow students to “engage with the writing process in a new way”.

“I have a heavy online presence with regard to my use of Sakai. I tend to use multiple sign systems in the classroom, anything from listening to podcasts, to watching TED talks, to engaging in performance and debate.”

Such practices, Alyson elucidates, allow her courses to remain dynamic and engaging to her students, whose active involvement in the pedagogical process “keeps the courses fresh… and developing”.

“I think it’s a kind of trap to think that education is a passive process and the professor is just there to dump all this information in your head and you either take it in or you don’t. For me, it’s really about teaching people how to think and exposing them to things.”

This pedagogical philosophy, and its emphasis of active student engagement, has been favorably received, both in the classroom and in evaluations, by those Alyson teaches.

“My evaluations are wonderful; I get really positive feedback from students. I really let them know how important their constructive criticism and feedback are to me, and that, again, is part of Ignatian pedagogy”.

Indeed, Alyson’s commitment to Ignatian pedagogy, and its elemental mission of social justice, further informs her educational practices.

“I encourage my students to be active civil students, civil servants, and members of the community, and I really seek to model in how aware I am of what’s going on with them, in their world, and in the world in general. I believe that education can be transformative. I believe that literature can be transformative. I believe that writing can be transformative. I think that by illustrating to my students that I love what we’re doing, that I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else, I’m able to share with them my passion for things that have transformed me and I hope will transform them.” 

Interview by Andrew Kelly,

Student Worker, Faculty Center for Ignatian Pedagogy

Monique Ridosh

Title:

Assistant Professor
Director, RN-BSN Program

Loyola website:

http://www.luc.edu/nursing/about/faculty/moniqueridoshphdrn.shtml

Length of time at Loyola:

Since 2007

Dr. Monique Ridosh calls herself a “transplant.” After growing up in Miami, Florida, she moved to Chicago with her husband and son ten years ago. Here, as in Miami, she finds herself surrounded by very diverse people in a city that she loves.

“It was a very transient community,” she said of her neighborhood in Miami, “then I came to Chicago, where there are more people from all over the world.”

Since moving to Chicago, Ridosh has taught nursing to undergraduate and graduate students at Loyola University Chicago and appreciates every minute of her work. She now teaches in the RN to BSN Degree Completion Program in the Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing.

“The fact that it’s a Catholic institution…you’re a part of a community that embraces mission and values,” she said. “It is very different than working for industry, where you are not free in that way to practice and to teach.”

As her teaching style has evolved, she has incorporated Ignatian Pedagogy into the material, which integrates experience, reflection and judgment into learning. Ridosh focuses on reflection in order for her students to complete the learning cycle.

“In every course that I have taught, there has been some component of reflection,” she said. “I really believe that students need to learn not just to understand content, but to be able to reflect on what they learned.”

Applying reflection specifically to nursing has not been a challenge for her. In her classes, she requires students to write blog posts, either each week or at the end of the course, to reflect on how they can turn what they learned in class into their practice.

“There is a component we offer that’s focused on helping [students] think conceptually and be able to broaden their scope and look at the communities that they are serving beyond the hospital walls,” she said. “When they get that piece, you see it in their reflection.”

While Monique has witnessed the growth of her students as they proceed through the RN-to-BSN program, the students themselves have responded enthusiastically to her teaching philosophy.

“[Dr. Ridosh’s class has] opened my eyes to a new world,” said student Robin Smedley. “You go out and learn an entire new part of nursing.”

Student Kristine Yorde added, “Monique is really accessible and has great knowledge. You can tell she really cares for nurses and their continuing education.”

Interview and article by Amanda McDonald, Undergraduate Work-Study Student
Video by Amaechi Ugwu, Graduate Intern
Faculty Center for Ignatian Pedagogy