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Faculty Spotlight Nomination
Twice each semester the Faculty Center for Ignatian Pedagogy features a Faculty Spotlight. The Faculty Spotight showcases a Loyola faculty member who has a project or methodology that exemplifies outstanding teaching practice. Nominate a faculty colleague or yourself to be recognized.
PARTICIPATETitle:
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.
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
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
Mark G Kuczewski
Title:
Director, Neiswanger Institute for Bioethics & Professor of Medical Ethics, Stritch School of Medicine
It is fairly rare to find someone with an intense interest in their own work as well as helping those in need, but Dr. Mark G Kuczewski, PhD carries both passions equally. Having been a part of the Stritch School of Medicine since 2000, Dr. Kuczewski shares that he has “found a home” in Loyola, which is perhaps what motivates him to be so heavily involved in carrying out the Jesuit mission.
When asked what keeps him at Loyola, Kuczewski responds, “without a doubt it’s the ideal of Jesuit education as ‘the service of faith and the promotion of justice.’” He believes that Loyola University Chicago brings the Jesuit ideals to life, particularly in the aspect of helping people who are marginalized and stigmatized, whom Kuczewski points out are “exactly the people Jesus spent his time with.” Even with such a rigorous schedule and complicated classes, Kuczewski manages to integrate these ideals into his day to day schedule by spending much of his time working with undocumented students at Loyola. “I have been moved by their commitment and determination despite being unfairly marginalized by our legal system,” Kuczewski shares. “I have been impressed by the way the student bodies of the Stritch School of Medicine and the undergraduate students have joined the undocumented students to work for justice. [. . .] Loyola students are the kind of people who understand that injustices to their peers are injustices to them. I couldn’t admire them more.”
Kuczewski’s students are lucky to have a professor that is so passionate about both his teaching and social justice—but he prefers to refer to his pupils in a different manner: “I tend to use the term ‘participant’ more often than student. Participant seems more active and indicates that learners uncover things together through their efforts; they are not sponges absorbing knowledge from the teacher. As an educator, I try to provide the conditions to facilitate their discovery.”
One class he is most well-known for teaching is Bioethics, which “is grounded in the exploration of real-life cases that health-care professionals face.” In fact, Kuczewski founded the first two online graduate Bioethics programs in the United States including the one here at Loyola with the help of Kayhan Parsi, JD, PhD. So, naturally, Kuczewski finds online teaching methods an efficient way for students to connect and participate more thoroughly in lessons and assignments. “However,” he states, “technology is a means to an end, and that end is analysis of real-life experience.” One of the lessons he incorporates into his Organizational Ethics and Leadership course is an example of how Kuczewski assists his students in real-life experience. “I conduct a session in which the participants prepare to write their personal mission statement. I go around the room asking each to tell me what they do best and what they enjoy doing most. They then incorporate these assets into their four or five sentence mission statement,” he explains. The most rewarding part of the lesson for Kuczewski is that students realize their value and “how staying true to who they are” can vastly improve their performance in the long run.
Seeing how selfless of a person Dr. Kuczewski is, it only makes sense that he will not even take full credit for his magnificent teaching skills. Rather, he sees himself as more of a middle man in the learning process: “In the end, learning happens through the participant’s encounter with creation. St. Ignatius suggests that they are in fact encountering the Creator in the activity of learning. We should never to forget how privileged we are to be engaging in education.” The fact that Kuczewski views his career as a privilege speaks volumes about his character; he is a true example of what a professor at a Jesuit university should be, making him an amazing addition to Loyola’s staff and an admirable role model for all of Loyola’s students.
Interview and write up by Mia Sciarrone
Student Worker, Faculty Center for Ignatian Pedagogy