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.

Robert-Louis Abrahamson:

I moved to England to finish my Ph.D. Someone told me about UMUC. "They thrive," he said. There was an Air Force base not too far from my house, and I got in touch with the Field Representative there, and that was that. I was very glad to be able to find a position teaching for an American college while living in England. I've stayed with UMUC ever since. It has been 24 years.

I am involved in several projects. I am editing a volume of essays by Robert Louis Stevenson for Edinburgh University Press. I offer workshops and treatments for Reiki healing. I also have a radio show on 209 radio, Cambridge's Community Radio station (downloadable from http://lamplight.209radio.co.uk). I also spend much of the time at home looking after our flower and vegetable garden, walking the dog, and cooking.

All my life experiences influence my teaching. I try to keep things as connected as I can. I sometimes feel like Venice: lots of different spots of land connected by hundreds of bridges. Most of the bridges lead at some point to my teaching.

Interviewer:

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

Robert-Louis Abrahamson:

I encourage students to connect on a deep level to the material we are studying. I encourage students to examine the assumptions they bring to class, gently put these assumptions aside so they can come to the reading as openly as possible. Then I ask them to engage with as many of the details of the reading as they can – the language, the context, the assumptions, and so on. Finally, I encourage the students to examine what is happening within themselves as they read. What resistance might there be? What new perceptions arise? How does the reading help them understand their own life? These are not easy questions, and they require me to be a strong presence in the classroom to help the students grapple with this engagement with the material.

The main influence comes from my teachers at Amherst College, who were always asking where we found ourselves as we read. Education was not a matter of showing on tests what we had learned, but an exercise or game of finding language to describe the drama that occurred between student and text.

Interviewer:

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

Robert-Louis Abrahamson:

In many classes, I ask students to use a moment from the reading as a way of speaking about their own experience. (Wordsworth speaks about the three different ways he has responded to a scene in nature. Choose a moment you have spent in a natural setting and discuss which of Wordsworth's responses correspond to the way you were responding to nature.) Much of this comes from my Amherst education, but the specific approach came, as so many things come, one day quite unexpectedly when the assignment seemed just to pour off my fingers onto the screen.

Interviewer:

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

Robert-Louis Abrahamson:

I take the students' inner life seriously and do not judge it. I encourage them to examine their own life and find meaning in that life. The works we study in class are useless unless they can be connected to the students' minds, imaginations, and hearts.

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.

Robert-Louis Abrahamson:

I teach both face-to-face and online. It's always good to make the personal connection in a face-to-face class. However, I enjoy the distance education classes, too, where students have to respond in writing every week, and we are often able to conduct discussions at a much deeper level when students do not feel they are sitting in the direct presence of others and when they are not put on the spot to give an answer.

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?

Robert-Louis Abrahamson:

Literature encompasses all other disciplines, since all learning appears in literary works. So in choosing to specialize in English, I chose all subjects. Let's also add that my engagements with literature are probably the most passionate and dynamic engagements in my life.

I read reviews, I go to conferences, I join listservs, and of course I try to read as much as I can. I enjoy sharing my passion for literature.

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.

Robert-Louis Abrahamson:

Most challenging is trying to show students that they are allowed to play and to think for themselves as part of their education. I offer models of my own playful approaches, I encourage, I tease, I provoke. I use all sorts of games to bring their studies to life. Then comes the challenge of showing the students how to stay grounded in their playfulness and keep in touch with what the texts are saying.

Without scheduled meetings, students sometimes find it hard to throw themselves into the discussions as much as I would hope. There is only so much I can do to lead the students into full engagement. Often this is the problem of students' busy lives, both personal and professional. We do what we can within these constraints.

Interviewer:

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

Robert-Louis Abrahamson:

Read an anthology of writers. Pick two or three writers who have interested you and read more by those writers. Let these writings lead you to other writers. Become obsessive in reading all about the writers and subjects you have discovered you love. Pretty soon you will become learned in that field and will keep expanding into new fields. Now you're ready to start real education.

Interviewer:

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

Robert-Louis Abrahamson:

The UMUC system is better than any of the other colleges I know of in accommodating students in the military communities and at the same time offering them a rigorous education that can be compared to the education at some of the best colleges in America.

Interviewer:

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

Robert-Louis Abrahamson:

We can live anywhere in the world; the faculty is very friendly and supportive, and the students are a pleasure to teach.

Interviewer:

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

Robert-Louis Abrahamson:

There is much more opportunity to teach literature online than in the classroom.