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.

Raymond E. Komar:

When my wife first met me, she said I was a "rare bird indeed". . . referring to the fact that I was a native born Texan, and a Houstonian at that, and not one of those "transplants" so popular in Texas during the early 70s. Most of my life has been in education, either pursuing my own (MA in English, 1970; PhD in English and Creative Writing, 2005) or in helping others achieve theirs, whether in the high school or university classroom. I did take one brief ten year detour into the Employment Benefits field, but after that I returned to the classroom and teaching.

I have been with UMUC in Europe since 2001. One of the early chapters in the current SPCH 100 textbook speaks about "self-fulfilling prophecies," and after my oldest daughter met a German exchange student, moved to Germany and then married him, I would frequently say to myself (I was pursuing my PhD then)...wouldn't it be great to teach in Europe. By chance, she met a UMUC faculty member in Würzburg, a friendship developed, and when this faculty member accepted another UMUC teaching position in Italy , I was encouraged to apply for the position. I did, and I have had an absolutely wonderful experience here in Würzburg, Germany, working with the men and women in the U.S. military, teaching a variety of English, Speech, Theater, and Philosophy of Religion classes. In case you're wondering about this "mixed salad" of instruction, in addition to my graduate degrees in English, I have an undergraduate degree in Philosophy, 60+ graduate hours in Theology, and acting experience with community theater.

Like those early American "circuit" preachers, I am the circuit teacher, traveling by car and train to the different Education Center classrooms in Würzburg, Schweinfurt, Bamberg, Ansbach, Vilseck, and Grafenwöhr. Each term is its own adventure with its own personality, and as I travel around central Bavaria , one of the most beautiful areas of Germany , I get to indulge one of my life-long passions: simply watching the countryside with its forests and fields change through the seasons, continually marveling at the cycles and rhythms of life.

I am a full time collegiate professor with UMUC, and so most of my time is devoted to teaching, whether in the traditional classroom or online. However, during the breaks between terms, I travel wherever and whenever I can. I am also researching my family's roots (all of my great-grandparents and grandparents immigrated from central Europe to Texas in the late 1870s) and in August, I hope to travel to all their birth places.

I also volunteer to go into the classrooms of many of my German friends who are teachers. Over the years, I have presented a variety of topics from drama to fiction to poetry. My interaction with these young German students provides a rewarding cultural exchange, and in some ways, my presence in their classroom simply allows me to be an ambassador of good will.

When I can, I work on my own writings (personal essays and poetry), and my efforts to have them published. Seeing the statement I have just written, however, leads me to realize again that writing is like exercising (it must be done daily), and that like my exercising, I fall short in this commitment. And so in my life, as in anyone's, there is this continual struggle and challenge to integrate what is most important to the person and to apportion the necessary time on a regular basis for the accomplishment of those activities. Ah! the New Year's resolution—again—in March.

In considering why I chose teaching as a career, one reason readily comes to mind: my Aunt Josie. I have a photograph of her (my mother's oldest sister), posing for a class picture with her students in front of a one room country school house near Dime Box, Texas. It is probably the 1920s; it is a mixed age classroom with mixed grades; and, I believe, it is her first teaching assignment. "Miss Josie" dedicated her whole life to teaching in her rural farming community, and I would dare say that most of children in the area passed through her classroom, my mother included. It is only now, and after I have spent 25+ years myself in the classroom, that I realize her subtle influence and acknowledge my own calling as a teacher, as well as the joys and satisfaction teaching has brought me. It is an honor for me to have followed in her footsteps.

Interviewer:

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

Raymond E. Komar:

To be unabashedly excited and enthusiastic about what I teach. . .to be interactive, continually posing questions, engaging the students with the ideas we are discussing, listening to them, and then raising more questions. . .to be respectful of them and who they are and the educational experiences they bring with them into the classroom, even if these experiences and skills are somewhat limited. . .to take them where they are (so important when teaching writing) and to do whatever I can to move them forward, encouraging them, cheering their successes, helping them to understand and negotiate the failures. . .to provide a classroom (or online environment) where they feel confident to ask any question about the material. . .to create the opportunity for the students and myself to become a community of learners. . .and in my own life, attitudes, and perspective, to continually mirror what education can provide and that it is never too late to pursue one's education.

At first, this question called up only a blur of faces and a somewhat amorphous accumulation of my experiences as a student. But then the names began to emerge: Mrs. McCorn, my first grade teacher; Sr. Paulana, my eighth grade teacher; Fr. Dunfey, my high school English teacher; Sara McNeil, graduate professor in Education; James Kastely, graduate professor in Rhetoric and Composition; Cynthia McDonald (poet) and Kathleen Cambor (novelist), professors for Creative Writing. And what all of these have in common: enthusiasm, excitement, passion and love for what they teach; commitment to the challenges of the learning process; an abiding interest in and concern for the students in their classrooms; and their genuine humanity.

Interviewer:

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

Raymond E. Komar:

If there is anything special or unique about my teaching, it is that I try to be as adaptive as I can be with each class and group of students. I continually evaluate my teaching and look for ways I can improve or present something more effectively. In THET 110, for example, because I incorporate attendance at live theater performances, I must be aware of what is being performed locally. I recently attended an excellent performance of the ballet, Romeo and Juliet , here in Würzburg. Since I will be teaching THET 110 next term, I am considering having the students read and discuss Shakespeare's play, watch several of the film adaptations, participate in a group production and design project, and attend the ballet. By doing things like this, I trust that students see the relevance of what we discuss in the classroom and its connection to their lives.

Interviewer:

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

Raymond E. Komar:

At the risk of sounding evasive and trite, I believe the students see that I am genuinely interested in them, their progress, and in what I teach. I also believe they see and sense that I accept them and the skills they bring into the classroom (and some of the writing skills are poor indeed) without at any time demeaning them or lessening their dignity as another human being.

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.

Raymond E. Komar:

I teach in both environments. In the face-to-face environment, I teach a variety of English, Speech, Communications, Theater, and Philosophy classes. In the online environment, at this point I teach a grammar and writing review (EDCP 103), an introductory writing (ENGL 101), an introductory genre course (ENGL 240), and a survey of American drama (ENGL 434).

I really do enjoy teaching in both environments and experiencing the different opportunities each provides me for interacting with students. Obviously in the face-to-face environment, there is the "live" audience with "real time" feed back and interaction. However, in the online environment, I especially like that a student can't sit in the back row for the entire term and keep quiet like she/he can in the face-to-face environment. Participation is a must, and I like that the written word becomes our voice in the online classroom and that it has a unique way of forging a learning community and a certain camaraderie. Perhaps it is the anonymity of the online environment in which we see and hear a written voice, but not a face, that encourages and facilitates a different kind of self-disclosure particularly beneficial to the English classes I teach online. I appreciate that especially in our discussions in the American drama class.

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?

Raymond E. Komar:

My chosen disciplines are literature and writing. I received a MA in English from the University of Texas at Austin in 1970, and twenty-five years later in 1995, I entered the PhD program in Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Houston . I finished this program ten years later in 2005. My interest in literature and writing has been life-long, and for me, both have their roots in my love of reading. I don't know the origins of this love, only that I have always loved to read. Libraries too, from as early as 4 th grade, have played a major role in my life. In fact, I can distinctly remember thinking, as I did research for my graduate classes at UT's library, that I could be very happy indeed simply in the middle of a library.

I read as much literature and non-fiction as I can and as often as I can. However, I find that my reading now has acquired additional perspectives. Yes, I read for my own enjoyment, interest, and enrichment. But I also read to see how another writes and apprehends the world. I am keenly interested in watching an individual writer "on the page," seeing how she or he writes. I do this for my own writing development and for the students I teach. I like to consider this my "lab" approach—observing other writers and how they develop their art so that I can be a more effective facilitator for my students. It is only afterwards that I look to the theory and literary criticism as presented in professional journals.

I use this same approach to teaching theater, only that I immerse myself in live performances—opera, ballet, plays. I make every effort to experience both German theater events as well as the excellent offerings by community theaters on the various U.S. military installations. I strongly believe the best way to communicate the appreciation of live performance is to demonstrate it: let my students see it in my eyes and hear it in my voice.

As to what I like best about teaching in my discipline, here are five key reasons:

a. It allows me to teach what I love (reading, literature, and writing), to work with materials that continually expand and enrich my own horizons, and to open to door for others to the wonders of reading, literature, and writing.

b. It allows me to work with language, taking what is often complicated, unintelligible, and mysterious—like grammar and punctuation or a poem—and make it clear and understandable.

c. It allows me to work with adult learners, encouraging and supporting them in acquiring skills they often feel anxious and fearful about because of previous negative classroom experiences or because it has been a number of years since they were last in the classroom.

d. It allows me to empower students in what is most basic and essential to our lives: the power to communicate effectively through writing and the ability to comprehend what we read with greater skill, sensitivity, and appreciation.

e. It allows me to hear a student say, "That was my first time to the theater and it was amazing," or "Reading those plays was an experience I won't soon forget," or "This proctored mid-term [ENGL 434] was one of the most thought-provoking I have taken."

Interviewer:

What is the most challenging to you in teaching in this area? What teaching strategy do you use when you encounter the challenge?

Raymond E. Komar:

Because of the number of years I have been teaching, I have experienced a good many challenges in the classroom regardless of where they come from: subject matter or student behavior. I have learned not to get "flustered" by what happens in the classroom, but I try and "roll with the punches," responding to situations as calmly and judiciously as I can. I simply endeavor to keep "my cool," move forward through the difficult moment as gracefully as I can, and then make whatever corrections I need to the content, my syllabus, or my classroom management.

Interviewer:

Are there any special challenges in teaching this subject matter online? If yes, please explain what could be done to meet the challenges.

Raymond E. Komar:

In teaching any of the courses I do online, I find using different technologies to be the most challenging. At times I feel intimidated by the technologies, frustrated with the learning curves required to use them successfully, and equally frustrated with how quickly the next generation of technological marvels replaces the current generation. For me the solution is simple. Decide which of the different technologies are more appealing to me, which can be used most creatively, and then learn and apply them.

Interviewer:

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

Raymond E. Komar:

How simple and easy this answer. To communicate a love and appreciation for literature, you must first love and appreciate it yourself. To communicate a love for language and writing, you must love language and writing. To inspire a willingness to commit to the "rigors" of writing skillfully and effectively, regardless of the genre, you must be committed yourself. And you must love to read literature. . . reading is where it begins. And for good measure: immerse yourself in the world of the fine arts—whatever your passion might be: art, photography, music, drama, dance. These nurture the human spirit and creativity, without which the teacher of literature and writing is less than what he or she can be.

Interviewer:

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

Raymond E. Komar:

I like the fact that UMUC has a mission to make a college education available to any student who wants to pursue it and be committed to its demands. I like the fact that UMUC is committed to the men and women in the U.S. military and provides a variety of learning environments, especially online, for them. I like the fact that UMUC has a presence around the world and that students, wherever they are, can work with dedicated faculty and administration. In my mind, these are some of the reasons making UMUC the college of choice for students.

Interviewer:

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

Raymond E. Komar:

UMUC does provide a variety of opportunities for a prospective faculty member, whether in the traditional classroom or the virtual classroom, and a variety of working environments, whether stateside or overseas. Personally, I like that. I also believe that working closely with the men and women in the U.S. military is a tangible way to show appreciation for their service.

Interviewer:

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

Raymond E. Komar:

My advice to a new faculty member is the same as I would give to a student wishing to major in this discipline (see response to question 1 in this section). What I suggested there is even more essential to the person who wishes to facilitate the learning and appreciation of literature and writing in either the face-to-face or online environment.