I went to UT Law because I thought it was a great value. My thought process went something like this: I can get a lot of (well-respected) education at a relatively low cost and then, when it’s all over, I’ll have more freedom to choose what I do with that education.
With that out of the way, I want to talk about another important factor that influenced my decision to come to UT Law: the powers that be claimed to take a professor’s ability to teach into consideration when making tenure decisions. If teaching ability was valued in tenure decisions, I liked the odds that the professors that taught my classes would have the capacity to create a better educational experience. (Lots of bad assumptions there, but let’s move on.)
In retrospect, I think I blew the importance of this little piece of marketing out of proportion. I’ve seen more than my fair share of mediocre teaching over the past few years. What I have not seen are frequent opportunities to provide feedback on a professor’s teaching other than the scantron survey that goes out at the end of each semester.
Then again, I may have just had my head stuck in the sand. This afternoon, law students received the below e-mail soliciting feedback in connection with tenure decisions:
Law Mail group: Student Government – SBA Student Contact: [SBA OFFICER] [PARAGON2PIECES]
Prof. Emily Kadens and Prof. John Golden are candidates for tenure
this semester. The Tenure Committee is seeking student comments on
both professors. These evaluations will be included in the files that
will be reviewed by the university before making a decision.If you would like to share your comments or thoughts on either
candidate, please email [TENURE COMMITTEE STUDENT REP.] by
Monday, October 5th at 10pm.
I’ve not had the opportunity to take a class taught by either Professor Kadens or Professor Golden, but I’ve heard really great things about the firm, but fair Professor Kadens–both in terms of her teaching and what she’s done for the clerkship program.
Read the full article: Professors Who Care About Teaching