Professors behind the podium

The way professors relate to students is hardly discussed, but is a vital part of the way USD runs.

By Paulina Sierra / Opinion Section Editor / The USD Vista

The relationship between professors and students is a central feature of college life. As a result, the way professors navigate their roles is pivotal to the creation of campus culture, from interactions in the classrooms, discussions held during office hours, and the ways in which we inhabit campus. The interactions students have with their instructors is a hugely important aspect of the college experience at USD, and has the ability to shape students’ experiences in their college years.

For Evelyn Kirkley, Ph.D., associate professor of theology and advisor for USD Pride, her mentorship is connected to engaging with her  students on a personal level.

“My goal with students is to help them, however I can, to recognize who it is that they are, and support them in becoming their genuine, real, authentic selves,” Kirkley said. “In the classroom, out of the classroom, it takes place in both places.”

For Rev. Rico Monge, Ph.D., assistant professor of theology and LLC advisor, engaging with students beyond the realm of academics has always been a part of the job, from when he taught  religion at a Christian high school to his current employment at USD.

“It’s a tough thing to navigate, because the best type of relationships with students have a very genuine and personal element,” Monge said. “They can’t be just completely a professional sort of thing with all these official rules, it doesn’t help with that kind of personal growth aspect that I value about being a teacher.”

Timothy W. McCarty, Ph.D., assistant professor of political science, prefers to engage with students exclusively on an academic level.

“I try to invest myself in my students’ academic life and in their aspirations, but not in their personal life,” McCarty said. “I’m very interested in what students are doing intellectually and academically and how they see elements of their education, and you know, as a political scientist, their activism and social engagement, and how all that comes together in their ambitions for careers, grad school, etc., but I don’t want to know what my students are doing on Friday night. I think that the student-teacher relationship is better with that kind of line.”

As McCarty suggests, engaging with students, in any capacity, is not without its difficulties. All professors must maintain a level of professionality t with students.
For Kirkley, who often interacts with students via her involvement as a club advisor, having specific boundaries, while not difficult, is an important thing to consider and carry out.

“I’ve been doing it for a long time, so I don’t have to be as conscious in drawing those lines like I might have a few years ago, but my lines are: students are adults, they are not in my close circle of friends, but they are people that I care about, they are people whose development and whose becoming is really important to me,” Kirkley said.

For Monge, one of his most difficult roles is as a mandatory reporter of sexual assault.
“Given that Title IX makes professors mandatory reporters of any sort of sexual assault instances on campus, meaning that if we hear anything, we immediately have to report it, we don’t have a choice,” Monge said. “That definitely creates a curious space in which a professor essentially has to identify when someone might be going to divulge that information, and then kind of let them know beforehand. The law has a very good intent, (but) if a student doesn’t know that it’s the case, and they’ve developed enough of a relationship with a professor that they want to talk to them first before they take any further action on the situation, it creates an awkward space where the professor might have to interrupt the student.”

Many professors think the concept of boundaries is made simpler when considering the relationship through the lens of its ultimate goal.

Kirkley views relationships with students as selfless, being for the benefit of the students.
“For me, the boundaries are around empathy, they’re around compassion, and they’re around trying to be as selfless as possible, and caring about students development and not needing or wanting them to give me something,” Kirkley said. “What makes me happy, and what brings a tear to my eye, is when students really pursue what their passions are. That’s so satisfying and awesome, to see a student grow into who they are.”
For Monge, this means maintaining his role as mentor, especially as it relates to the way the students may view him.

“I would say the ideal goal is that the professor becomes a very human and empathetic resource for navigating not only intellectual life and expanding that, but navigating personal goals,” Monge said. “In general, I think college is best understood as a place where students can explore becoming the kind of person they want to be, as opposed to the career they want to have, and I think the ideal professor-student relationship is one that includes that personal development, which itself will ideally allow students to find professors that they see embodying that with their teaching or with their other work inside the campus and in the community, and then the students identify that and want to learn more about how do I become this kind of person too.”

Part of maintaining this relationship is being able to keep certain biases hidden from students. McCarty deeply values the political anonymity he has.

“There are things that I am careful to keep closer,” McCarty said. “For example, I know that (with) a lot of political science professors, our personal political actions, advocacy, who we vote for, those kinds of things, a lot of us think it’s important (to keep) private, in order to best create a classroom environment where, no matter what I may think or how I may come down on political controversies, my classroom is as open an environment as possible for as many different kinds of perspectives as possible.”

One thing that professors resonated with was the idea that being a professor is not a one-size-fits-all position. Professors like Kirkley, who are very involved with students and student organizations may think it is important to realize that their way is not the best fit for everyone, and implying otherwise could be harmful for professors who prefer to engage solely in academic matters.

For McCarty, his engagement with students, and the awareness he lends to it, is reflective of the way he conducts relationships in general.

“Like everyone who is engaging in complex personal interactions, that there are going to be mistakes made and missteps,” McCarty said. “But I think that the key is to be conscious and thoughtful that this is a very unique kind of relationship, and it’s a special relationship, and if done right can be one of the most enriching and rewarding relationships on either side. So I think that, for me, the key is being active, purposeful, and thoughtful in how I engage with students.”

Kirkley believes that while her method works for her, teaching styles can, and should, vary from person to person.

“I would not prescribe the way I do it to everyone else,” Kirkley said. “It’s unique to me. I think the boundaries are different for each personality and each person. I will say as well, now that I’m a little bit older, I feel a little bit freer to be closer to students, because I’m kind of in a more mom-like role, whereas when I was younger, it could be weird. Age is definitely a factor.”

The concepts of age and experience also resonated with McCarty, who considers himself relatively new to being a professor.

“Every new semester I gain new experiences that become part of the realization of ‘that’s a good practice’ or ‘that’s a bad practice’ or ‘that’s a less effective practice,’” McCarty said. “I think those professors that have been at this longer just have a better sense of things. Those of us who are a little newer at it are still figuring it out. So, we’re the ones who maybe need more precise line drawing or active thinking.”

As with all aspects of these relationships, part of the battle of relating to students  on any level is figuring out the best way to go about it. For Kirkley, USD is a suitable place for professors that are figuring out their teaching style.

“I think that one of the reasons that USD’s faculty is as strong as it is is because faculty are encouraged to develop their relationships with students in different ways,” Kirkley said. “Some are more intellectual, some are more research oriented, some are in the lab, some are advisors for clubs. So, that’s the way I have found what seems to work best for me.”

Ultimately, students understand that professors have different personalities and methods of engaging with students, and this is a welcome variety.
Grace Strumpfer, a USD junior, discusses the ways in which different professors enrich her student experience.

“There are some professors I know, if I just want to chat, I can go by their office,” Strumpfer said. “And then I have professors who I can talk to about academic stuff, and I know they care, but it’s a little bit less of a personal relationship, and I think that’s totally valuable. There are some people who are just really good professors, and then there’s some that form a more familiar relationship, where some are a little more academic, and I don’t think that’s any less valuable.”

According to Strumpfer, what makes all professors valuable, regardless of teaching style, is that they engage with their students with full sincerity and want the best for them.
“What makes a good professor, regardless of teaching style, is that they care,” Strumpfer said. “Not just that they care that you get a good grade, but they care that you are able to learn the material, that you understand what’s going on. That you’re doing okay. I think that can come in different forms in the way that they show that, but they want to be there, and they want you to be there.”

The way professors run their relationships with students can vary greatly from person to person, but it is the overall desire the educator has to engage with students that makes whatever teaching style they have stand out, and impact students in a positive way.