Lecturer distinguishes himself by teaching 'big ideas' to broaden minds

UW Tacoma Senior Lecturer G. Kent Nelson doesn't care if his students become experts in the subjects he teaches. He'd rather they master a few broad principles for better living.

"The most important thing for me, as an instructor, is to emphasize whole-person learning," he says. "I want to help my students become better human beings. If I do that, they'll be able to go out into the business world, pursue whatever they choose and be successful."

Nelson is the 2007 recipient of UW Tacoma's Distinguished Teaching Award, an annual award recognizing an exemplary faculty member. An instructor in the leadership and business communication courses in the management concentration at UW Tacoma's Milgard School of Business, Nelson is only the second non-tenured faculty member to be honored in the 13-year history of the award.

In the classroom, Nelson prefers to teach big ideas, an approach he believes helps students understand themselves and the world around them and will ultimately make them better businesspeople.

"Given the choice between my students leaving my class with acute understanding of the course's particular subject matter, or leaving my class as better human beings who are motivated to contribute to the well-being of others and the greater good, I will always choose the latter," he said.

Nelson's class assignments reflect his goal to help students develop an intrinsic desire to engage in life-long learning. In his Dynamics of Leadership class, Nelson asks each student to develop a model for their own pursuit of "personal mastery," and a plan to improve current and ongoing leadership. In his Interpersonal Skills course, student assignments generate awareness of personal communication patterns that can lead to improvement in personal relationships as well as business ones.

Nelson enjoys interactive classroom discussions and recently started to use new technology in a quest to keep students engaged and excited. In addition to providing students with written feedback on their work, he records oral feedback on a digital audio recorder and e-mails it to his students. It's a method that allows him to provide tailored, personal feedback with all the nuances associated with a human voice.

"For me, written feedback lacks personal and emotional nuances that are so important," he says. "I believe this is a way to give really rich and meaningful feedback."

Nelson also serves as an instructional coach for other UW Tacoma faculty. He conducts workshops on teaching and learning and observes classes in order to help other faculty members sharpen their teaching skills.

"As a senior lecturer, I believe it's one of my jobs to promote a rich teaching and learning environment," he said. "If I can help another teacher improve, that teacher becomes more effective with students. The impact is exponential."

Nelson earned his Ph.D. and M.A. degrees in speech communication at the University of Washington in Seattle. He has been an instructor at UW Tacoma since 1995.