Someone asked me recently what my favorite spot on campus is. That is an easy answer: the classroom. I miss teaching, so imagine my joy this past week in attending four classes — organic chemistry; data and communication in mechanical engineering; research methods in human development; and fundamentals of anatomy and physiology. I am so grateful to the faculty who allowed me to sit in, and to the students for including me in their group discussions (and so happy to sit in the renovated Sharp classroom).

Here is what we learned in terms of content:

• Organic material can be synthesized from inorganic materials.
• Dr. Percy Julian was the first African American chemist to be inducted into the National Academy of Sciences for his pioneering work in the chemical synthesis of medicinal drugs from plants.
• Being an expert includes mastering the communication style of your discipline in addition to the methods and the content.
• We understand the world through different ways of knowing (such as intuition, authority, rationalism, and empiricism), and the way of knowing changes our understanding.
• Mosquitos are attracted to certain blood types.

And here is what we learned in terms of teaching and learning:

• Office hours/learning hours/review sessions — students, use them!
• Faculty over and over and over again said that they are here to help.
• While each class offered a different teaching technique — ranging from a projection camera to polls everywhere, it didn’t matter — students were focused and engaged.
• The level of preparation and organization and time that a faculty member invests for a successful class is high and deserves praise and gratitude.

If you are willing to have me attend your class in fall or spring next year, please reach out.

Here's the latest from around the Beat:

I am grateful to the Campus Culture and Engagement Task Force for their work this past fall hosting campus-wide conversations, and over the winter drafting two documents: 1) a summary of the reflections they heard and 2) a proposed campus culture and engagement framework with identified elements to move the work forward. The co-chairs will soon release these as drafts and host campus conversations to discuss the proposed elements. The framework also illustrates how this effort will connect to the institutional strategic planning effort, ensuring that this work is highly visible, integrated and enduring.

I am committed to UD as a university for the whole state, and I have been working these past months to develop resources to address the needs of our programs in Wilmington, Dover, Georgetown and Lewes. As dreams materialize into funding, faculty and staff at these locations will be centrally important to these efforts. If you want to know more about the projects being designed or want to be directly involved, please reach out to me.

I would like to thank Dr. Miguel Garcia-Díaz for his service as the Vice President for Research, Scholarship and Innovation. He has been a strong champion of faculty research, and as he transitions from this role, I am glad that he will continue on at UD as a faculty member. I am grateful to Dean Fabrice Veron for stepping into the VPRSI role on an interim basis.

Prez Runs continue every Thursday at 7 a.m. from Mentors’ Circle. All students, faculty, staff and community members are welcome. We run at all paces and in all weather. First-timers earn a Prez Run sticker; come three times and earn a Prez Run pin. Check out the details and photos of our bundled runs the past few weeks on the President’s page.

A question came up this past week, and I want to answer it definitively here: Yes, we are and always will be the Fightin’ Blue Hens.

Yours in UD,