Students feel closer to professors at GCSU

     As a liberal arts university, GCSU approaches student and faculty relationships in a different way than some bigger universities. According to the GCSU little fact book, the student to faculty ratio is 17:1.
     On the Office of the President web page, President Dorothy Leland said students won’t get lost in the crowd here; classes are small enough to allow for plenty of faculty and student interaction.
     Dr. Beauty Bragg, assistant professor of English, thinks personal connections can be a good thing. She said she has a personalized professional relationship with her students.
     “I do like to kind of hear some parts of our non-academic interests and experiences that don’t always directly have to do with school or the classroom,” Bragg said. “I do try to stay in my role as a mentor and a model.”
     She said that she thinks some personal experiences are relevant, so she only shares the things that have a purpose. She also thinks relationships with her students are influenced by her living in Milledgeville, is on campus a good deal and can be seen outside of campus.
     “(It seems that) because I’m around a lot and the town is so small, it does kind of humanize (me),” Bragg said.
It is especially important for professors at GCSU to have a more personalized relationship with students because that is one aspect of a liberal arts college.
     “The professors role is to really provide a level of mentoring and interaction, informal kinds of interaction that aren’t necessarily the norm at bigger, research universities,” Bragg said. “It’s important because it’s part of how we help to develop people or how we can contribute to their development.”
     She also finds it significant because of her own experiences with professors as an undergraduate student. She said those types of relationships can have a lot of impact. One person that influenced her was a teacher’s assistant whom she befriended.
     “I spent a lot of time talking to her,” Bragg said. “She was actually somebody who was instrumental in my thinking about going to graduate school and getting my Ph.D. in English.”
     Bragg had another professor with whom she didn’t spend a lot of time outside of class, but still was significant in her decision-making about life.
     “(It was just) the way she responded to me in my papers and classroom discussions,” Bragg said. “She was just really respectful and took me seriously and that was really instrumental in making me think more about moving into (my) profession.”
     Dr. James Winchester, interim director of the Honors & Scholars Program, commutes from Atlanta three days a week to teach at GCSU. However, he has 10 office hours each week for his students.
     “I want to make sure I’m available,” Winchester said.
However, he does think there is an advantage to living in Atlanta and traveling here.
     “I have been a conduit to key people visiting GCSU,” he said. “(It) helps GCSU; (I) don’t want (students) to be isolated from the rest of the world. Students use me to connect (to jobs and internships) in Atlanta, and I have recruited students from Atlanta.”
     Senior mass communication major Ajayi Monell thinks it is important to have a good relationship with professors while in college.
     “These are the people who help guide you through college and can help you get that job you love so much after you graduate,” Monell said. “If you have a good relationship, they are simply more likely to go out on a limb for you and it is always good to have someone in your fighting corner when you are stepping into the real world after college. Our professors really just want the best for us anyway.”
     Krystal Parker, a freshman, said the relationship she has with her professors is not what she expected.
     “I thought my professors would know me more than they do,” Parker said.
     She said she would like to build the relationships, though.
     “I would have liked to develop a relationship so that my professors know what I like to do, the volunteer work that I have done and other characteristics,” Parker said. “That way, when I need a recommendation letter, they can write a good one”
She said the reason she thinks she doesn’t have a more personalized relationship is because she is currently undeclared.
     “Maybe if I had a major, I would put forth an effort to talk to my professors outside of class.”
    Monell said he has close relationships with many of his professors and those associations also help him in and out of the classroom.
     “I work towards getting to know my professors outside the class and helping them get to know me better also,” Monell said. “When we see each other outside of the classroom, we hold a conversation that may have nothing to do with class. I feel that it is great that I have been able to get to know some of my professors on a closer level because it helps me enjoy the classes more.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Nov 9 2007. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry