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Office
of News and Information
September 15, 2003 |
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Along with his duties as The University of Texas at Tyler’s chief administrative and academic officer, President Rodney Mabry has assumed an additional role this semester. On Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, Dr. Mabry enters Room 259 of the Business Administration Building and stands before a class of about 29 freshmen – as their instructor. The president is teaching a section of Freshman Seminar, a required course introducing students to scholarly thinking and writing through theme-based topics. “Leadership, Character and Making a Difference’’ is his chosen topic for the class. “I was a little surprised to find out that the president would be our instructor, but he’s a good teacher and we’ve learned a lot so far,’’ said Chetan Patel, a chemistry major. “It’s a privilege to learn about leadership from someone who is a leader. He knows what he’s talking about.’’ A longtime professor of economics and finance, Dr. Mabry said he returned to the classroom this semester for more than one reason. “I taught all my years to some degree, and I had not taught in my first five years as president,’’ he said. “I’ve been busy doing other things and we’re still extremely busy, but I wanted to get in touch with our students. Knowing what they are thinking will help me make better decisions. In addition, I really missed teaching.’’ The state’s budget uncertainties earlier this year constituted another factor inspiring the president’s decision to teach. “Although we didn’t end up with enormous cuts, we have fewer operating funds for this new biennium,’’ he said. “We are stretched very thinly because we are growing so rapidly. We have 30 percent more students than just three years ago. So, I thought I’d try to help out by teaching this fall.’’ Dr. Jim Ferguson, vice president for business affairs, is assisting with the class and will take the lead when the president is away at Board of Regents meetings in November and early December. “We’re doing this in response to the budget situation, to help relieve the demands on full-time faculty, but, in addition to that, Dr. Mabry and I are very interested in the topic of this class,’’ Dr. Ferguson said. “We’re trying to give the students a good foundation upon which they can build their leadership skills. And we’re having a great time with them. They are very enthusiastic and eager to participate in class discussions.’’ In the guest-speaker-based course, students are learning about leadership issues through discussions with political, business, civic and campus leaders who visit the class regularly. In addition, the class is studying current and historical leadership figures and reading scholarly and popular literature on leadership. The students are given opportunities to express their ideas orally, hone their critical thinking skills and write clearly. The class also is designed to introduce freshmen to university life. “If we can help them to become better writers and better thinkers, introduce them to the academic workload and talk about how to do that work, we will have gotten our freshman students off to a good start,’’ Dr. Mabry said. “And we want to let them know more about UT Tyler, our culture and our traditions here.’’ The students also have an opportunity to give their input on matters concerning the university. “Dr. Mabry has told us that he wants our ideas and our input about the university and has asked us for suggestions on developing new traditions,’’ said student Marrisa Doutt. “We like being able to talk to him. We don’t have to go out and look for him, we have him in class.’’ Contact person: Emily Battle, (903) 565-5604
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