Faculty Excellence at UMUC

Interviewer:

Please tell us about yourself—what made you decide to teach at UMUC? What kind of work do you do when you are not teaching at UMUC? Are there any life experiences that have influenced your teaching at UMUC? If so, please share one story.

Charles Neimeyer:

I am a graduate of the University of Maryland (class of 1976) and have always wanted to give something back to the University that gave me my start in life. I also find teaching at Maryland highly rewarding. I am also the Director and Chief of History for the United States Marine Corps.

I have had a number of students tell me over the years how much they appreciated me going the extra mile with them academically. Many of these students have returned to the classroom after being away for a few years and lack the self-confidence to think they can succeed at college. I try to give them this confidence back by working with them on an individual basis. I tell them that despite taking courses on line there is no reason to expect less help from me than from those professors teaching face-to-face.  

Interviewer:

How would you describe your teaching style or philosophy? What experiences or person(s) have influenced your style or philosophy?

Charles Neimeyer:

I like to think of myself as a student-oriented professor. One thing that I strongly focus upon for each and every class that I teach is to ensure that I treat all my students as individuals. Teaching adults with families and jobs is a challenge not only for the professor, but the student as well. Issues that normally don't affect traditional classroom instruction, such as child care, traffic, job stress, and family responsibilities, play a larger role in most UMUC classes. I must develop methodologies that will take these challenges into account without sacrificing on the quality of education being offered.

I served over 20 years as a Marine Corps officer and earned two advanced degrees while on active duty, so I understand the difficulty of working adults trying to further their education while working full time, having a stressful job and raising a family at the same time.

Interviewer:

Please explain if you do something special or unique in your teaching and what made you develop this.

Charles Neimeyer:

I am a strong believer that part of my duties as a history professor at UMUC is to help my students improve their abilities to write. This is a life-long skill that will benefit them in whatever field they are currently in or choose to be in. My experience has been that most of my students come to my classroom with very uneven writing backgrounds. Some are quite good and some are simply not ready to write a college-level paper. I try to figure out who might have writing issues within the first week of class. I ask them to write a short essay almost immediately and can soon determine who is going to need extra help in this area. I refer the most severe cases to the UMUC writing center but for most it is simply taking the extra time to provide them with some extra resources to get them quickly up to speed with the rest of the class. I always ask those students who are initially struggling whether they own a style manual. Most say they do not and I recommend several that they can easily pick up at any local bookstore. I also recommend that they purchase Strunk and White’s Elements of Style and Margaret Shertzer's Elements of Grammar.  Armed with a good style manual and these small books on writing, I have seen students make dramatic improvements in just one semester. Most of them are grateful for the assistance and extra help, and hopefully this small improvement will pay dividends in other classes that they might take at UMUC.

Interviewer:

What do you think it is about your teaching style that appeals to students?

Charles Neimeyer:

I have a very open and collegial teaching style that I think appeals to my students. I try to answer their emails as soon as possible and never stay out of touch at any given time for more than 24 hours.  I want my students to see me as totally approachable on any issue that they might have. I remain available for both on and offline emails and even encourage them to call me on my cell phone if they are having any problems they might need help with. It is amazing how many of my students have remained in touch with me over the years. What I enjoy most about teaching at UMUC is the interaction between myself and a very diverse student body. This is one reason why I really like hybrid classes. This, for me, is the best of both worlds. I get to personally meet and instruct my students and at the same time get them to really drill down into the material in our online sessions as well.

Interviewer:

Do you teach face-to-face, online, or both? Do you have a preference between teaching face-to-face and online? If so, please explain.

Charles Neimeyer:

I teach both face-to-face and online. I greatly prefer the hybrid format. To me, it is the best of both worlds. I get to personally meet and instruct my students and at the same time get them to really drill down into the material in our online sessions as well.

Interviewer:

Please tell us about your chosen discipline-i.e., what made you interested in the area initially? What do you do to stay current in your discipline? What do you like best about teaching in your discipline?

Charles Neimeyer:

I have always been interested in history ever since I can remember. When I was very young my parents took me to various places of historical interest like Harpers Ferry, Gettysburg, Fort McHenry, and Williamsburg, Virginia. My interest just built up from that point on. I am a strong believer in life-long learning and history is a never-ending fountain of knowledge that allows me to pursue this goal.

I belong to a wide variety of historically related professional societies, such as the U.S. International Commission on Military History, the Society for Military History, the American Historical Association, the Naval War College Foundation, the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation, and the Marine Corps University Foundation, to name just a few. I also try to attend as many conferences in this field as my job will allow and I will usually present and/or publish at least one or two professional papers in my field each year.

There is always something new emerging in the field of history. This keeps things fresh and lively both for me academically and for the students in the classroom. I try to introduce new historical works into the classroom as often as I can.

Interviewer:

What is the most challenging to you in teaching in this area? What teaching strategy do you use when you encounter the challenge? Are there any special challenges in teaching this subject matter online?  If yes, please explain what could be done to meet the challenges.

Charles Neimeyer:

Keeping up with the vast amount of new and exciting material that is produced each year by scholars in my field. There is only so much time to read so much material. Hence I subscribe to book review services that enable me to keep up a bit better. My biggest challenge is getting the students to completely read the required reading material. They will sometimes scan the material instead of reading it for mastery. I can tell by their responses to the discussion questions just how deeply they have absorbed what I provided them. When I sense this about a student, I will ask them to do some additional online research on a particular topic and then provide their findings for the rest of the class. Sometimes this might be as simple as providing a link. At other times, it might be synopsizing part of the required reading. In the end, the students usually come away benefiting from their classmates additional research.

Sometime online students are not as active in the discussion boards as I would like. A good professor can help overcome this by providing them with group activities such as assigning a project for a number of them to do together and then presenting their findings to the rest of the class. In other instances, graded homework assignments work too. In the discussion boards in order to stimulate online conversation I will occasionally play the "devil’s advocate" to get them going.

Interviewer:

What suggestion would you give to students who are interested in majoring or working in your discipline?

Charles Neimeyer:

Know that being a good student is more than just performing well on the graded event. It is also about self-discipline and responsibility. These traits are just as important as having the ability to analytically synthesize historical problems.

Interviewer:

In your opinion, what makes UMUC the college of choice for students?

Charles Neimeyer:

Taking classes at UMUC is probably the most convenient way for someone with a full time job or someone simply wishing to return to the classroom to get a high quality education. UMUC offers classes in a wide variety of formats and have various semester starts during an academic year that enables people with varied and normally hectic schedules to find a way to fit their education in as well. UMUC has the strongest support network for students and faculty that I have ever seen in my 20 plus years of teaching higher education.  

Interviewer:

In your opinion, what makes UMUC the employer of choice for future faculty members?

Charles Neimeyer:

The pay for a single course is fairly good compared to other Universities that I have worked for. Moreover, UMUC provides a wide variety of professional development opportunities – much more than most other schools. Their faculty support is at a very high level.

Interviewer:

What suggestion would you give to new faculty who are interested in teaching in your discipline at UMUC?

Charles Neimeyer:

Definitely use a veteran faculty member as a mentor and get to know them and their techniques for being successful in the classroom. I was mentored when I first came aboard in 1992 by a professor who had a reputation for teaching well at UMUC. He showed me how to reach out to students, common pitfalls for new faculty, and how to ensure the students remain engaged in your classroom. His mentorship was absolutely invaluable to me.