GUIDING PRINCIPLES

Teaching is our prime directive

My first guiding principle is that teaching is our prime directive. First, last, and always, those of us who are members of the faculty are teachers. In whatever capacity we act, regardless of our professional obligations, however we define ourselves, we are above all teachers. Whether in the classroom or laboratory or studio, whether serving on an administrative committee, delivering a lecture, or meeting with students during office hours, we are teachers. We teach through our words, but also through our actions, through the values we profess, through the decisions we make, through the ways that we interact with society. When I meet someone on a flight and they ask me what I do, I say I’m a teacher. Of the titles that I have held, there is none of which I am more proud. If you are a member of the faculty, I assume you are here because you also define yourself as a teacher. I cannot think of any role more fundamental to the purpose of a university.