There are good people all around you. Recognize them!

The long-awaited MAC trophy!

A year ago, I was named the 2022 Ball State University (BSU) institutional winner of the Mid America Conference (MAC) Outstanding Faculty Award for Student Success. The trophy company the MAC used apparently still had a significant backlog due to COVID supply-chain issues, so the trophy just recently arrived on the BSU campus so it could be presented to me. This post is partially about me, but it's really about all the good people around us, so I encourage you to keep reading.

The MAC Outstanding Faculty Award recognizes one full-time faculty member nominee from each of the twelve MAC institutions that has demonstrated a dedication to student  success. From these nominees one faculty member that has gone above and beyond in their dedication to student success is honored as the winner of the MAC Outstanding Faculty Award for Student Success. That was not me last year, but I was recognized as the BSU institutional winner.

This student-focused award is distinguishable from academic or research-based awards as it celebrates the commitment of the MAC to a holistic student experience and the creation of an environment that supports success in school and in life.

My remarks

A few days ago, BSU held a celebration in my honor at which they presented the trophy to me. What follows are the remarks I made at that event.

This award focuses on student success. So, what actions do I take that I believe contribute to student success? I don’t believe there is any one big thing, but rather lots of little things that all add up to student success. Things like…

• Using active learning to keep class engaging
• Using flipped learning by recording videos for learners to watch outside of class, and doing activities in class when they can ask me questions
• Being learner centered
• Having learners do reflective writing
• Being aware of disabilities, and doing what I can to support those learners
• Doing what I can to keep diversity, equity, and inclusiveness as part of the conversation
• Using alternative grading, primarily specifications grading, so learners can grow from their mistakes
• Emphasizing the workforce competencies they are indirectly learning
• Mentoring immersive learning projects to provide participants a rich learning experience

I make myself very available to learners during class, via email, and in my office (both physically and online) at a variety of hours during the day, since leaners often have questions after 5:00 PM. My goal always is to find a way to help learners understand, learn, and retain the material.

I often tell learners who are regular visitors to my office: “I’ll work at least as hard as you will, to help you learn this material.” What I’m telling them is that if they are trying, I’ll be right there with them—but they must put in some effort.

But this recognition is not fully about me. It’s about all of us in this room, and across campus. I happen to be the one who has a very supportive department chair, Jennifer Coy, who submitted the award nomination that was selected to be the BSU institutional winner last year. But I would not be the faculty member I am today without the interaction, training, guidance, and support of scores of other faculty, staff, administrators, students, and family, all of whom I’ve learned something from over many years. I’ve borrowed tips and techniques from uncounted others, many of whom are in this room today. I firmly believe there are many faculty who are just as deserving—perhaps more so, but are yet to be nominated. I just happen to be the one nominated last year.

I sincerely thank the faculty and students to wrote support letters for me, and everyone who has interacted and shared with me over the years, thus allowing me to learn something from you. I appreciate all of you for taking time out of your day to come to this event.

President Mearns presenting the BSU
Outstanding Faculty Award to me

Good fortune strikes twice!

I also had the good fortune of being nominated by Kara Duquette for the 2022 BSU Outstanding Faculty Award last year. This award is given in recognition of demonstrated composite excellence in teaching, scholarly or creative productivity, and service by a faculty member who has an academic record at Ball State University of more than five years. Eight individual faculty, staff, and administrators from across the breadth of the university took the time to write and submit letters of support for my nomination. Submitted along with the 25-page nomination dossier, Kara and Robbie Mehling produced a four-minute video highlighting why I was being nominated for the award. Ultimately, I was selected from the nomination pool, and was presented the award at Ball State University's fall 2022 faculty convocation. Again, I believe there are many other faculty who are just as deserving—perhaps more so, but are yet to be nominated.

So what!?

So, last year was a good year for me. I received two significant awards within a year's time. I am extremely appreciative of this recognition! While I believe I do a good job, I also suffer a bit from imposter syndrome. I don't see myself as being that good. However, others around me do, and submitted award nominations on my behalf. They saw the worth and merit of being supportive of those around them and chose to expend significant time and effort to recognize someone in whom they believed. To be the recipient of that level of support not once, but twice, is a bit humbling for me.

I ask that you take a look around you. Yes, do it now. Who do you interact with that is doing a good job? Maybe it's as simple as they're doing what they're supposed to do, day in and day out—they're dependable. Let them know that you appreciate them. If their effort, ability, or attitude is rising above others, let them know that you noticed. If there is an award for which you can nominate them, do it. Regardless of being selected as the winner or not, simply being nominated is recognition in itself. 

Letting people know that you appreciate them, support them, and believe they are doing good, will likely be returned to you. I know I'm more inclined to go above and beyond what is needed or expected when I'm feeling appreciated by those around me. How about you?

So, who are you going to recognize this week?

Image credits:

MAC trophy photo by David Largent

BSU award presentation photo by Kara Duquette 

It's all her fault; my programming start

I graduated from Willowbrook High School (Villa Park, IL) in 1975. The photo to the left is from my senior yearbook. During my time there, I was active in the band all four years, where I played the tambourine in the marching and pep bands, when I wasn't playing clarinet in the band. (I still have both instruments, but haven't played either in years.) I also took the usual compliment of academic courses. One course in particular is worth mentioning in this post: Computer Programming.

If my memory is correct, the 1974-1975 school year was the first year the Computer Programming course was offered. The first half of the year we learned the Basic programming language (the original Basic, not today’s Visual Basic), and then moved on to Fortran by the end of the academic year. The class was taught by Judith Sims, who taught both Mathematics and Computer Programming that year. We typed our programs on a teletype machine (shown at right) that created a record of it on yellow punched tape. The teletype machines were connected to a computer at some Illinois university, but I am not sure what one. In retrospect, Willowbrook was well ahead of the time; many high schools have only started offering a computer programming course in recent years. Little did I know how fortunate I was at the time.

During the fall of 1975, I attended Manchester University (at that time it was Manchester College) in North Manchester, Indiana. I graduated from Manchester in the spring of 1979 with a BS in Social Work, and an AA in Computer Applications.The photo to the left is from my senior yearbook. (The hair didn't change much.) I started with no major in mind, ultimately declaring Social Work, after a few semesters. However, I kept taking the occasional computer class from Dale McCauley (where I started using 80-column punched cards, shown below) to fill out my course schedule each semester, because I enjoyed it in high school. At some point, I think in my junior year, I realized if I took a couple more specific computer courses, I’d satisfy the AA requirements. (I still have many of my programs on punched cards!) During my time at Manchester, I learned the FORTRAN, COBOL, RPG and APL programming languages.

Soon after graduation, the opportunity to interview for a computer programming position presented itself, and I started my first professional job on July 1, 1979 at the N.G. Gilbert Corporation (which later merged with Townsend Tree Service Co. Inc.), in Muncie, Indiana. I was employed by that company for 28 years, starting as a computer programmer, and leaving as the Information Services Manager, when the position was eliminated in October 2007. I enjoyed those nearly three decades getting a computer to do what the company needed. While at Gilbert/Townsend I used the Fortran, RPG, and COBOL languages, and learned the Protos programming language and database management techniques, while transitioning from punched cards, to terminals, to PCs, networks, and the WWW.

After a few months of job and soul searching, I decided to go back to school. In January 2008, I enrolled at Ball State University (Muncie, IN) and started work on a Computer Science master’s degree—at the age of 50! The hope was to make myself more employable. God was watching over me, as within less than a week's time, I decided to apply to graduate school, was accepted, and was offered a graduate assistantship that provided tuition remission, and a modest stipend. While at BSU, I learned the Java, JavaScript, HTML, and Python programming languages.

Midway through my graduate coursework, I came to realize that I enjoyed teaching, and shifted my thinking that direction. I had taught the occasional night course at the Muncie, IN campus of Ivy Tech a few decades earlier, so teaching was not a totally foreign concept to me. As I was completing my master’s degree in the spring of 2010, the opportunity to interview for a full-time contract teaching position in the Computer Science department at Ball State presented itself. This spring, I’m completing my twelfth year teaching full time at BSU. Despite my enjoyment of working in industry, I’ve found during the last dozen years that I enjoy teaching even more. The photo to the left is one that Kinsey Reese took of me yesterday for use in BSU publications. (The hair has changed a bit. It's now white, longer, and pulled back. Oh, and I've a beard.)

Since serving as a university professor, I’ve had the privilege to interact with thousands of learners and spark interest in computer science, as well as life-long learning. I’ve been able to conduct research, and present my results at conferences, both domestic and international. (The photo to the right is me presenting at ICER 2010 in Aarhus, Denmark, my first academic conference presentation.) And it all got it’s start at Willowbrook High School nearly 50 years ago in Judith Sims' computer programming course.

For the last year or so I've tried to locate Judith Sims to let her know that it’s her "fault" I've ended up where I am today, and to let her know that I appreciate that. Having just been named an Institutional Winner of the Mid-American Conference Outstanding Faculty Award for Student Success, I think she'd be pleased. Unfortunately, I've not yet been successful in locating her. If you happen to know her, let her know. If you happen to know someone who might know her, please let them know. 

If you've not reached out to a teacher to tell them thank you for helping you get to where you are today, take time to do that now. It may be your only opportunity to do so, and will mean the world to them. Trust me.

Photo credits:
Teletype by Rama & Musée Bolo, CC BY-SA 2.0 FR, via Wikimedia Commons
Punched card by Pete Birkinshaw from Manchester, UK, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
School/university logos owned by the respective school/universities