Photo // Rafael Tortolero

“KINDNESS AND CREATIVITY.” The University Center for Excellence in Teaching’s spring “Thank an Instructor” initiative will open for submissions March 24.

By: Mira Costello

Editor-in-Chief

Last semester, the University Center for Excellence in Teaching piloted a gratitude project encouraging students to send notes to faculty and other mentors who had made a positive impact on their lives. After receiving many submissions, UCET Director Jay VanderVeen says they will bring the initiative back, with a form opening later this month.

VanderVeen said faculty at IU South Bend picked up the idea after hearing of it from directors of other higher education teaching centers in Indiana and realizing it fit well with UCET’s theme this year, “Kindness and Creativity.”

UCET started identifying an annual theme for the center last year, when they chose “Teaching Everyone, Everywhere,” which VanderVeen said informed a focus on expanding accessibility and teaching for students with a wide variety of backgrounds. This year, he said, with tension in the national education climate and morale issues among faculty, UCET decided having a theme of kindness would be a good fit. 

“It’s relatively low lift, doesn’t cost our administration any money, and links very nicely with the theme of kindness,” VanderVeen said, describing the inspiration for the Thank an Instructor project. 

With help from the Honors Program, first-year seminar mentors, the Student Government Association and other channels, UCET advertised the initiative, expecting only a dozen or two notes, according to VanderVeen. When they received almost 70, they were pleasantly surprised.

“It just blew our minds,” he said. “So we thought, ‘let’s at least do it one more semester.’”

VanderVeen explained that UCET screened all the notes to ensure they were appropriate, which gave him insight about what students focused on in their messages of gratitude. Many students noted that faculty had gone “above and beyond,” taken extra time to mentor them or helped them find additional resources.

“In a sense, the students said, ‘my picture of a faculty is someone standing in front of a chalkboard and lecturing at us. You stepped away from the chalkboard and reached out a hand and helped me in another way,’” VanderVeen said. 

He said the project also provided an opportunity for instructors who are often overlooked to receive appreciative feedback. 

“A lot of normal student evaluations don’t say nice things about, usually, teachers who identify as women, teachers of color, online, adjuncts,” he said. “They don’t normally get as many thank-yous.” 

Additionally, UCET decided to allow students to define for themselves what an “instructor” is.

“We specifically chose not to say ‘Thank a Professor’,” VanderVeen said. “We are allowing the students to define it however they want.”

Aside from full-time faculty, many students submitted notes for their advisers. The category of “instructor” could also include part-time faculty, librarians and support staff, such as those working in the Titan Success Center. There are hundreds of potential instructors to thank at IU South Bend, and those building a case for continued employment, promotion or awards could also benefit from positive feedback given freely by students. 

VanderVeen said he believes the initiative could be at least as successful this semester, if not moreso, especially considering that there are new instructors. 

Submissions will be open online from March 24 through April 6, and students have the option to remain anonymous. VanderVeen said this window allows a buffer between the Thank an Instructor surveys and official course evaluations, which UCET endeavored not to interfere with. 

VanderVeen also noted that the messages will not be delivered to the instructors until after grades have been finalized, as the UCET leaders wanted to alleviate any concerns that sending or not sending a thank-you message would affect a student’s grade or treatment. 

Keep up with the Daily Titan and with us on Instagram @iusbpreface to access the form and thank your instructor later this month.