Presidential Award for Exemplary Teaching

Tonight, I was awarded Calvin University’s Presidential Award for Exemplary Teaching.

My acceptance speech follows.

Opening

Thank you, President Boer.

And thank you to Provost Toly, the deans, PSC, and everyone else involved in deciding this award. My thanks also go to the Vander Ploegs, who established this award in memory of the Tinholts, and their representatives daughter Dawn Hartwell and granddaughter Erin Genua, whose company I shared at dinner this evening.

I accept this award with all possible humility, given all the amazing instructors in the room. I have learned so much from all of you that it’s incredibly humbling to stand here today.

I was asked to keep my remarks brief. 5 minutes. But I think I’ll go into the 6th minute. I feel kinda bad about that and you have another class to attend. So when your hyper-accurate internal stopwatch tells you I’m at 5 minutes and 10 seconds, please loudly zip and unzip your backpacks. That will let me know that you’re not taking any more notes, regardless of the importance of my final points! And I’ll hurry along so you can get to your next class. Deal?

You can start those internal timers now. Here we go.

Three metaphors

This may sound funny, but I’ve been thinking a lot about icebergs lately. I’ll explain why with three metaphors.

Metaphor One

This past Saturday, engineering students held their annual exhibition of Senior Design projects. I love seeing the projects, but my favorite part of the event is meeting parents and families. Students are icebergs: we see only the visible 10% in the classroom. But when students introduce their families, we see some of the ice beneath the waterline. When the opportunity arises, I thank the parents and families for trusting us with their beautiful children.

For me, classroom interactions take on deeper meaning when I remember the trust placed in us. The classroom becomes a place where we partner with the students and indirectly with their supporting families and friends.

An example of student-faculty partnership happens each Fall in ENGR333. In conjunction with an external “customer,” like President Boer, I ask a one-sentence question that takes the students an entire semester to answer. Examples include:

• How much energy rebound is expected from typical energy efficiency improvements?
• What would it take to eliminate Calvin’s carbon emissions from natural gas consumption for heating?

At some point in the semester, students come to me with a detailed question on a particular aspect of the project. I have to admit, “I don’t know.” And I say, “you are now the experts.” They are often taken aback.
But at that magical moment, the project ceases to be an assignment. It becomes, rather, a responsibility. Students take ownership, and the customer and I provide guidance. It becomes my task to manufacture an environment where students can grow, as their families expect, INTO their learning and into the selves they are becoming.

To honor the partnership between students and instructors, I invited several current and former students to be my guests tonight.

I invited alumni:

• Julia Balona
• Baylee GalanBrowne
• Mike Troupos

And graduating seniors:

• Aidan Bakker
• Jess Camp
• Sam Hoover
• Gia Mien Le
• Claire Sheppard
• Jordan Tuter

These students represent significant parts of our work together at Calvin (and some things that are special to me). They are: advisees, student athletes, sustainability designation students, CERF interns, choir members, students who took the Economics of Energy and Sustainability with me, and presenters for the ENGR333 seminar referenced in President Boer’s introduction.

Thank you for partnering with me in your education. I literally couldn’t have done it without you! I might be receiving an award, but students should get the acclaim!

Metaphor Two

Each of us instructors are also icebergs in that a lot lies beneath our waterline, too. The second set of guests is meant to honor the people who make it possible for us to partner with students in the educational process.

First is professor Tracy Kuperus from the department of Politics and Economics. I invited her not because I find politics interesting and economics fascinating, although I do, but rather because she is my beautiful wife. I love you! Thank you for saying yes 34 years ago and for walking together through life.

Other family guests include my children Mark and Catherine, my mom and dad, Alice and Loren, and my brother and sister-in-law, Jonathan and Brenda.

I might be receiving an award, but the hard work to shape who I am was done by these people.

My invitation to each instructor here tonight is to express your gratitude to those who make it possible for you to teach well.

Metaphor Three

The final iceberg is the amazing universe that God created. I think of every lecture, every project, and every paper as an opportunity for students to explore some part of God’s creation previously hidden from view, previously beneath the surface. In the process, students develop into the kingdom servants that we all wish them to become.

To continue the metaphor, we all know that icebergs can be hazardous. Some distorted parts of the creation can trip us up, are difficult to look at, or are challenging to discuss. But by God’s grace we partner with students in those spaces, too.

I might be receiving an award, but the glory belongs to God.

For me, it is the joy of a lifetime to participate in the special and mysterious process we call education. And although I don’t agree with everything at Calvin, I’m grateful to teach here, with so many wonderful students and colleagues, at a place where we can teach from a position of belief in the God who created and sustains both us and the world around us.

If you’re scoring along at home, you’ll notice that I stretched the iceberg metaphor to cover all three aspects of teaching: students, instructor, and material. There’s so much more to be said, but I think I’ll declare victory at that point.

Concluding thanks

Thank you again for the award. But above all, I’m thankful for no zippers!

Blessings to us all as we move to the end of another academic year.

Thank you!