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Jack Eichler

Having had three years of teaching experience in secondary education, plus an additional year of teaching as a post-doctoral fellow, I really thought I knew what I was doing in the classroom. Then I came to Oxford College. It wasn’t long before I realized I was a novice among pros. There were things going on in the classrooms at Oxford that I had never heard of nor imagined. In addition, not only did I have to really evaluate my teaching, I had to rethink what I was doing as an independent researcher. Supervising freshmen and sophomores in research projects could not be done by following the model I learned in graduate school.

It is no accident that my learning curve as an academic has been at least partially reduced. The opportunities for professional development at Oxford College and Emory University have been plentiful, to say the least, and have been invaluable to my teaching and research. I have had the opportunity to attend University-based seminars on liberal arts education and environmental sustainability, participate in the Oxford summer institute for pedagogy and classroom technology, attend national conferences on chemistry education and undergraduate research, and take part in a national workshop on how to integrate unsolved civic problems into our chemistry curricula. In addition to all of these opportunities, I have received numerous stipends and mini-grants funding my efforts in disciplinary research and teaching innovations.

To conclude, I have to say that my experience at Oxford has far exceeded any of my expectations. I cherish the fact I work on a historic campus rooted in its sense of community, and where finding the most effective way to teach undergraduate students is the primary mission. I also feel like I am truly integrated into the larger Emory University family.