Center for Teaching and Learning

Faculty Interview
Edwin Sapp
Communications

Hear the audio clip on "teaching to one" and the history of literary ideas. (2:32)

My wife Jeannie and I have eight children and 16 grandchildren. I retired from the Air Force as a colonel, from the National Security agency as a civilian after 29 years of service, and I have taught at the college level for four decades. I come from a long line of attorneys (my grandfather, father, and brother) and educators – my great-grandfather was a college president, my grandfather founded the graduate English Department at the University of North Carolina (UNC), and another distant relative was president of UNC in the early 1800s. I came to UMUC because I enjoy teaching adult learners and this university provides a fantastic atmosphere of learning for students AND for faculty.

I counsel people seeking employment or upgrading their positions in the work force. I also sing with the Mormon Choir of Washington, DC, and serve as first counselor in the presidency of the group of advisors who oversee the activity and Scouting programs for several hundred young men in 12 church congregations in five Scouting Districts under the National Capital Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America. I have served in Scouting leadership positions for the past 45 years.

Beginning when I was 15, I had the remarkable experience of attending a summer “voice camp” of high school students for four summers. Conducted by Lara Hoggard (who coached Fred Waring's The Pennsylvanians and later became the chair of the Music Department at the University of North Carolina), that up-close and personal introduction to professional performance taught me to understand PASSION –– passion in singing, in poetry, in the written and spoken word, and in its effect on the writer/speaker as well as how it could move an audience. My high school choir later traveled to the Music Educators Conference in New Orleans as the only high school choir in the US to perform that year. When we sang the Pennsylvanians' theme song, “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” we received a standing ovation from the audience, which included many members of that internationally acclaimed choir. That series of experiences reverberated through my undergraduate study in English literature, with minors in music, math, philosophy, and psychology, a masters in English studies, and my doctorate degree in jurisprudence –– and has led to a life-long love of teaching.

Socratic. The more you TELL folks, the less they learn (as Hermione has gradually discovered by interacting with Ron and Harry Potter at Hogwarts).

I was profoundly influenced by a 19th century leader who explained his teaching philosophy as, “I teach them correct principles, and they govern themselves.”

I teach business-associated writing as a survival skill and I base my message on three decades of desperate learning under fire. I have written for a US Senator, a Congressman, a dozen or more general officers, the Secretary of Defense, the President, and numerous Congressional Committees. I wrote or edited all written defense of a $1.4 billion Intelligence Community budget for eight years, and I have written two books, edited others, and produced a national-level magazine column and a regional newspaper column in addition to a number of short stories.

Continue to read, to write for publication, and to discuss writing strategies with senior managers at every opportunity. In the past six weeks I have published a four-page technical article on brake restoration on a 1929 Plymouth for an international magazine (“Gimme a Brake!”) and submitted another article to a UMUC publication on teaching challenges in the 21 st century classroom. In those same six weeks I read 1776, The Mayflower, The Metaphysical Club, Now, Discover Your Strengths , two of Ted Bell's novels Pirate and Spy , and Covey's The 8 th Habit. I read The Washington Post , The Saturday Evening Post, Time , and a half-dozen other magazines thoroughly – and I read for content and information, but also with an editor's eye for composition, style, expression, and presentation. Thanks to law school, I still read a 500-page book in six hours, and to relax, I do crossword puzzles – in ink.

I like to see lightbulbs. I love to see the dawning of the expression, “ohhhh” on a student's face when he or she has just discovered the secret to expressive writing that works.