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Faculty Excellence at UMUC
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Faculty Interview
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| 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? What life experiences have influenced your teaching at UMUC? |
| Tom Mierzwa : | An unusual circumstance, actually. I was attending a conference held at UMUC, and during one of the breaks, I stepped out in the lobby and noticed lines of students registering for fall semester courses. Curiosity got the best of me, and I walked over and looked at the brochure describing one of the programs. Titled “Technology, Innovation & Entrepreneurship”, it resonated strongly with what I was practicing in my professional life and much of what I was interested in intellectually. I spoke with the program director and offered to teach, but he said there were no openings that semester, but that I should send a resume for his review. Well, a week into the semester an opening occurred, and the rest is history. That was 17 years ago, and it's been a rewarding run. |
| Interviewer: | Please tell us if you teach face-to-face, online, or both and explain what made you choose that format of teaching. |
| Tom Mierzwa : | Before UMUC offered online courses, I taught many F2F classes, and still do. When the Graduate School inaugurated its first online class (with Microsoft DOS no less!), I was the godfather of the first course. I relish being a pioneer and innovator. Looking back, many faculty members have certainly surpassed what I began with their elegant online teaching techniques. |
| Interviewer: | What do you find most satisfying about teaching in your chosen format(s)? |
| Tom Mierzwa : | The most satisfying part of teaching at UMUC is the opportunity to design and deliver a series of management courses, from beginning masters level courses, to the final “capstone” course, and even a few doctoral courses. The range of management topics keeps me close to the cutting edge literature and close to managerial best practices. |
| Interviewer: | What do you find challenging about teaching in your chosen format(s)? |
| Tom Mierzwa : | The greatest challenge is tuning in to the unique learning needs of entering graduate students. Many have been away from a formal learning environment for more than a few years. Getting them acclimated to a self-directed learning approach is a real challenge, but also very rewarding when it works for them. |
| Interviewer: | Please tell us about your chosen discipline—how long have you worked in or taught it? What made you interested in the area? What keeps you interested in the area? |
| Tom Mierzwa : | My original disciplines were in the areas of planning and design. When I first came to the Washington , DC area with a masters degree, I worked as an urban designer and then as a policy analyst. After leaving government, I became a management specialist, running my own consulting firm, and serving as an executive for several other firms. My evolved discipline is management, with a strong dose of innovation and entrepreneurship. This has been the focus of my teaching activity for more than 15 years. Originally, my interest in design was fostered by an exposure to Frank Lloyd Wright, who remained a vital person even at an older age. The thought of being vital and an active contributor later in life appealed to me. The evolutionary interest in management came as I progressively assumed more responsibility in positions I held. The fields of management, innovation, and entrepreneurship hold great potential for meeting my intention to be an active contributor throughout my life. The constantly changing dynamics of organizations and their potential for enabling new ideas and innovations. |
| Interviewer: | What joys do you experience in teaching in this area? |
| Tom Mierzwa : | The intellectual stimulation triggered by student interest and student hopes for making organizations and society in general a better place. |
| Interviewer: | What challenges do you experience in teaching in this area? Please describe any special challenges you face if you teach online in comparison to teaching in a face-to-face classroom. |
| Tom Mierzwa : | The fields of management innovation and entrepreneurship have literally exploded onto the academic landscape. New research initiatives have sprung forth not only in the U.S. , but also globally. Keeping up with this dynamically changing field is both exciting and challenging. |
| Interviewer: | How would you describe your teaching style or philosophy? What experiences or person(s) have influenced your style or philosophy? |
| Tom Mierzwa : | What I like to do is engage students in creative exploratory learning. I see myself as an orchestra leader and the students as symphony players. In the classroom, I use a dialectic approach to process a case study or managerial concept. This “engagement” approach is complemented by exercises that explore the underlying foundations of concepts explaining the themes we discuss. In the online environment, I seek to have students engage with and interact with one another through theme discussions. Clear writing style and careful writing quality is an essential part of learning at the graduate level. Coaching students to improve their writing and conceptual skills is a key focus of my online teaching. Having great professors in my masters and doctoral programs left a lasting mark on me. I would have to attribute the recognition of my own intellectual curiosity (and its empowerment for learning) to those mentoring experiences. It's my hope to convey some of those same motivations to my students. |
| Interviewer: | Please explain if you do something special or unique in your approach and how you developed that approach. What do you think it is about your approach that appeals to students? |
| Tom Mierzwa : | It's often been noted that there's nothing so practical as a good theory. I believe strongly that with a firm understanding of a theory or concept students are better equipped to understand and interpret the practical reality of their working environment. I like to use “learning objects” in the form of graphic explanations as tools to explain those concepts and theories. While some are animated and some are static, learning objects provide a processed learning experience for students to grasp concepts and understand them. These approaches are very user-friendly, especially in the online learning environment. |
| Interviewer: | What suggestion would you give to students who are interested in majoring or working in your discipline? |
| Tom Mierzwa : | Have a lust for ideas and creativity. Become a scanner of trends and literature in your field. Don't be afraid to risk sharing your ideas and insights about needs and opportunities you visualize. |
| Interviewer: | What suggestion would you give to new faculty who are interested in teaching in your discipline at UMUC? |
| Tom Mierzwa : | Practice becoming a renaissance person. Learn the full range of managerial disciplines. See the field from the perspective of other disciplines as a way of strengthening your own viewpoints. Capture any and all practical managerial experiences you've had in the form of a mini-case study, so that you can intuitively converse about it in the classroom. Online teaching is more challenging than one might realize. Being prepared in advance will pay huge dividends for your teaching performance as well as your peace of mind. |
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