Teaching Initiative Award
Lindsey Thomas, Ph.D.
- Earned a Ph.D. from the University of Iowa in May, 2015. She joined ISU in August, 2017.
- Assistant Professor in the School of Communication at Illinois State University.
My motivation to become a college professor comes from
My motivation to become a college professor comes from my undergraduate professors at the University of Northern Iowa. I wanted to be a teacher for as long as I could remember, but they… helped me to appreciate not only knowledge sharing (i.e., teaching) but knowledge production (i.e., original scholarship).
The resource or person that has been the most important influence in my teaching career is
The person who has been the most important influence in my teaching career is Bryan Asbury…. Bryan is an amazingly passionate and innovative instructor, and he is always willing to talk through problems and brainstorm ideas for classes. I feel so incredibly lucky to continue to be his colleague at ISU!
I want to continue to improve my teaching in the following ways
I want to continue to improve my teaching by adapting and creating more (hopefully) fun experiential activities and games to enhance students' learning and overall experiences in the classroom.
The best moment/event in my teaching career is
Two of the twelve students' full research manuscripts from my first graduate seminar were accepted to present at our national conference. From this I learned how immensely rewarding it is to mentor students; I am so much more excited when they succeed than when my own manuscripts are accepted!
The one teaching technique or strategy that I would recommend to my colleagues to enhance student learning the most is
Get to know students as humans, not ‘just’ students.
