Eight Things a Biochemist Taught Me About Teaching Marketing
On a recent sunny Friday afternoon, late in the semester, Sam M. Walton College of Business faculty gathered to learn from one of the best on our campus: Dr. Suresh Thallapuranam, known to his students as Dr. Kumar.
As a professor of biochemistry in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, he studies the biomolecular interactions that play an irreplaceable role in our lives.
Suresh is also the recipient of this year’s Charles and Nadine Baum Teaching Award, the top teaching award on our campus.
While I could set a record for article length by discussing all that I learned from him, I’ll limit this list to my top 8 takeaways.
As a faculty member – and mom of a Walton grad, two Walton students, and a daughter heading to Sarah Lawrence – I can assure you that Suresh had my attention from the moment he said, “teaching is a serious responsibility and requires complete devotion.”
So that is a list of seven specific takeaways on teaching. And my eighth takeaway cuts across each of these first seven: don’t be complacent about teaching.
During my first semester on the University of Arkansas faculty in 1991, I had the great fortune of beginning my friendship with Ro DiBrezzo, our vice provost for faculty affairs.
I have shared the story of our first meeting countless times to colleagues and doctoral students: During a discussion of teaching, Ro gave an example of how our research streams will evolve over our career – expanding, deepening, broadening to new areas and new methodologies.
She advised me that it is important to not let ourselves become complacent about research – and equally important, we shouldn’t become complacent about teaching.
We should let our teaching content and style expand, deepen, and broaden to new areas and new methodologies.
Both Ro and Suresh understand the importance of the student-centered part of our mission and these wise words have proved inspiring to me in many situations.
I’m grateful to learn so much from a valued colleague and appreciate Suresh’s willingness to spend his time with us.
Suresh lives out the triad of faculty responsibilities with perfection: he is a challenging, student-centered teacher who motivates and encourages his students. He is a prolific and cutting-edge researcher and he serves our campus community and his discipline in meaningful ways.
I am lucky to have him as a colleague. Times eight.
Molly Rapert is an associate professor at the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas and serves as the director of the WCOB Center for Teaching Effectiveness. The content for her senior-level Marketing Management course is chosen by an advisory board of 15 executives who contribute articles, ideas, projects and assignments. Follow the course on Instagram @mollyrapert #thisishowweteach #BeEpic
Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared on LinkedIn and was shared with the author’s permission.