Award-Winning Faculty Perspectives on the Student-Instructor Relationship

Nathan Alleman (Educational Leadership)
Sarah Madsen (Educational Leadership)
Byron Newberry (Mechanical Engineering)

Teachers in higher education, regardless of field or discipline, must attempt to manage the intersection of disciplinary expertise, classroom oversight responsibilities, and daily human interactions with students in a way that results in an optimal relationship for learning. Ideally, students would be justified in believing their teachers to be an appropriate combination of expert, fair and organized, and admirable. But teachers may also struggle at times to find the right balance in one or more of these areas. This session will present findings from interviews with expert university teachers on the interrelated aspects of teacher authority, suggesting a useful framework for faculty development.