Personal Introduction- Why I teacher
I began and ended my undergraduate college experience as biology major. I did well and enjoyed studying bacteria with microbiologists, but it was not until my senior year that I encountered a course that would change my life path. I enrolled in a Sociology of Gender course with Dr. Claire Renzetti in the fall of my senior year. This class, was a general education requirement and introduced me to the study of group behavior; a topic that I did not know existed. I was fascinated and walked around campus with the textbook in hand for three months. More than the material, it was Dr. Renzetti who encouraged my new found love. She presented me with the material and research but also developed in me a passion for the discipline by her great example. To this day, Claire is still a mentor. I reflect on that feeling of finding academic love and thankfully having a professor on the other end of it who was just as excited. It is this experience that leads my teaching. Ironically, years later, it was Claire who suggested I leave the criminal justice field as a practitioner and teach within her department of Sociology and Criminal Justice, at St. Joseph’s University. I remember the experience of having my mentor ask me to teach at the institution where I discovered my passion. Eventually, I taught the Sociology of Gender course that introduced me to my discipline!
As an undergraduate, another major influence was my involvement in community service both locally and internationally, building schools in Philadelphia and Mexico. I had studied bacteria and utilized biological research methods in the past, but I became fascinated with the idea of studying human and social interactions in an uncontrollable setting. I found a new challenge in research outside of a laboratory. The methodological challenge of studying society continues to fascinate me. However, the experience of working with populations in social settings that otherwise I would not have ever been a part of continues to remind me that I have a larger social responsibility. It is this experience of course material and community service that led me to my current career as a teacher.
Prior to moving into higher education I was a social worker and administrator in an alternative school for students who were no longer able, for various reasons, to remain in a public school setting. It is these students and their families who taught me as much as any book or research could have about criminology or sociology. This experience has continually reminded me of the importance of community engagement and leaving the traditional classroom. The families and children I worked with were not merely statistics but actual people. They continue to travel with me and guide my teaching philosophy. In every course it is critical that my students recognize the human behind the statistics. My teaching is a continuum of my experience both inside and out of the classroom. Within the community and guided by a wonderful mentor, I hope to offer such experiences to my students. I thoughtfully design my courses as an extension of my educational and service experience and the belief that, "Experience is not what happens to a man; it is what a man does with what happened to him." Aldous Huxley