I am committed to providing for students the best liberal-arts undergraduate education that I can.  I feel that students should be allowed to take chances, be it as performers, designers or technicians.  It is my responsibility as their teacher to set the parameters in which they can take those chances.  There are some in education who believe that risk-taking should be consequence free.  I too feel that way, but only to a point.  Again, it is my duty as a teacher to enlighten the student to the potential consequences of their actions, and then let the adult-students make the final decision.

I feel that the instructor in the undergraduate system should be more a facilitator of education than a dispenser of knowledge.  “Give a person a fish and they’ll eat for a day.  Teach a person to fish and they’ll eat for a lifetime.”  In addition to extolling the virtues of fishing and eating, I feel that this saying completely mirrors my philosophy for education.   It is important to give students the skills and tools needed to overcome a challenge, and then set them loose.  This will serve students well in their chosen careers as well as in their lives.