Washington College recently granted tenure to six professors, the largest single group in 25 years, according to Department of Chemistry Chair Rick Locker.
Drs., Erin Anderson, Alisha Knight, Anne Marteel-Parrish, Corey Olsen, Shaun Ramsey and Aileen Tsui represent a diverse group of professors from five different departments that were all granted tenure this school year.
Many of these professors decided to come to WC for similar reasons. Some professors were drawn to the campus because they knew the small size would allow them to have closer relationships with students.
“I knew that I wanted to teach at a small liberal arts institution that placed a heavy emphasis on teaching, whereas a larger research institution would place more emphasis on publishing and scholarship. I knew that based on the experiences I had at Spelman College where I worked closely with teachers and developed some mentoring relationships, that that was the kind of experience I would like to have as a college professor,” said Assistant Professor of English Alisha Knight.
Both Knight and Olsen were granted tenure by the English department last semester.
“The English department is delighted that Professors Knight and Olsen have been granted tenure. Both are outstanding teachers, scholars and colleagues who already have and will continue to make valuable contributions to Washington College,” said English Department Chair Kathryn Moncrief.
In their time here, Knight has created the Black Studies minor and Olsen has created the “The Tolkien Professor,” a popular website featuring lectures of Tolkien’s work. He also started the jousting tournaments, held every year in late March on the green.
Marteel-Parrish said she was attracted to WC because of the academic freedom in the classroom.
“Another reason I took this position was because I could teach about some specialty topics and I was never prevented from teaching those. In fact, I was highly encouraged,” said Marteel-Parrish.
Marteel-Parrish’s specialty is in green chemistry. She said some of her students have gone to graduate school to study topics similar to the ones she teaches in her class.
“You bring your specialty when you come here and you pass it along to the students and I love that,” said Marteel-Parrish.
Her greatest reward, she said, is helping students understand a traditionally intimidating and difficult subject.
“What really makes me happy is when students say, ‘Dr. Marteel-Parrish made chemistry very easy to understand’ and they really do understand. I can see it in their eyes, as if they are saying, ‘wow, that’s it, we got it.’ And when I can see that happening in the classroom, that’s my greatest reward. When I see the lightbulbs go off, I’m so happy,” said Marteel-Parrish.
Like Knight, Marteel-Parrish likes that the small size of WC allows for close teacher student relationships.
“I really like the fact that I know my students by name. I see my students even outside of the classroom, where I think most of the learning actually happens and I’ve really built relationships with students. Even after they leave here, I still keep in touch with them,” said Marteel-Parrish.
Ramsey also has a very close relationship with his students.
“The students call him ‘Doc.’ It’s quite an affectionate name for him. They love him. I’ve sat in on his classes. He does a great job, especially with the upper level people where it’s very deeply technical and he manages to make it interesting,” said Math and Computer Science Department Chair Austin Lobo.
Now that Ramsey has been granted tenure, Lobo says the math department wants to make his special topics course in Computer Graphics a permanent course.
Lobo said that “he brings a very important skill that most small colleges don’t have in computer graphics. It’s quite an unusual feat to have someone who is an expert in that area and it keeps the quality of the department.”
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