I feel like sharing a list of some of the things at EMU that make me happy to be working here….Feel free to add your own!
1. the EMU Theater program and its many wonderful productions over the last year!
2. EMU’s location — I like this part of the state a lot, and Ypsilanti is a very cool town.
3. EMU’s nearly unlimited potential for great achievements, and the dedication of the many faculty, students, staff and administrators who work to realize this potential.
4. Our students – especially the ones who, in my history classes, so frequently show their thirst for learning and their curiosity. At EMU, students appreciate the value of their educations rather than taking it for granted (as is sometimes true at more elite schools). EMU students work hard for their education, and EMU by and large works for them….
5. My many wonderful colleagues on the faculty — both in my dept, History and Philosophy, and in Arts and Sciences, and across the whole campus. EMU’s faculty members are, by and large, very hard working, dedicated people, experts in their fields, hired by national searches and found to be the best available….and none of them are here to get rich or famous, but rather to teach and do scholarship and serve.
6. I have often over the years heard wonderous things from students about our biology faculty’s teaching, and as I’ve gotten to know many of the biology faculty myself, I have to agree with the views of my students who praised the bio faculty. Same can be said no doubt for the sciences in general.
6. For many of us on the faculty, much of our teaching is directed at future K-12 teachers, and that to me is exciting and important: EMU trains lots of teachers, and thus we have a power and responsbility to “get it right” as what we teach becomes the intellectual capital of K-12 teachers, and is imparted to younger students. This is a very serious responsibility, and an honor to be part of. EMU’s College of Education is superb.
7. The EMU staff and administrators, nearly all of them, are engaged in providing services that our students need, and they do a good job of it, and, I am grateful to them for their important labors.
8. EMU has a broad array of academic programs — around 200, if I recall correctly – so our faculty, curriculum, and our students’ interests are rich and diverse. This makes EMU a far more interesting place than many smaller sized schools, and yet EMU is still small enough that we should be able to function as a university community. (This goes back to #3 above, EMU’s tremendous potential…)
9. We have an excellent library, and a superb library faculty. Likewise, a terrific social work faculty and program, and many others I could name, but won’t for want of space.
10. EMUTalk.org – the blog where the meanings of EMU are probed and explored! (Thanks, Sitedad and fellow commentors)
What is most essential to each of the 10 items above, of course, are the students. They’re the tops!
And what, dear readers, are some of your favorite Terrific Things about EMU?
