As director of the College’s Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts and the Wabash National Study, Professor Charlie Blaich has analyzed data that identify the best practices in teaching in colleges and universities across the country. Asked what’s at the heart of those practices, Blaich says:
“They are signs of caring for students. That’s what’s really going on at good places: You have students who are working really hard and being challenged, but they’re being challenged in the presence of adults who are invested in their future, and they know that.”
Psychology professor and 2012 winner of the McLain-McTurnan-Arnold Award for Excellence in Teaching Bobby Horton is among many Wabash faculty using data from the Wabash National Study as a way of improving their
work with students.
“We have paid careful attention to the way Wabash students regard ‘faculty interest in teaching and student development,’” Horton says. “Scores on that scale are the single best predictor of whether a student returns to
Wabash for his second year.” That knowledge led Horton and others focusing on students’ first-year experiences to base the freshman advising program on “developmental advising—advising for the whole student.”
Nick Gray ’15 sees plenty of “interest in teaching and student development” from his teachers at Wabash. Asked about that during a videotaping last spring, Gray recalled his visits with Horton and his family at their Crawfordsville home.
“I’d go over to the house for lunch or dinner or cookouts. When I was doing my internship on campus, he knew I was from Philly and knew I would be bored here during the summer, so he invited me over.
“He offered to keep my stuff for me while I’m studying abroad; he even let me borrow his car for a week. I have a really deep respect for Dr. Horton.”
Gray recalls meeting the Horton’s daughter, five-year-old Maesa, who was born in Ethiopia and adopted as a toddler.
“First time I went over, Maesa said, ‘You’re brown like me.’ I play freeze tag with her, and she always gives me a kiss before I leave.”