What do you remember most from your educational journey and how has that shaped your teaching?

I remember most the times I spent chatting with my professors during office hours. I don’t remember too much from the classes I took with them, but I have many memories of our meaningful, enlightening conversations. We talked about everything – current events, history, personal life, etc. We keep in touch and we are friends. I learned to be an inspirational, empathetic teacher from the great mentors I had.

How does what you do in the classroom reflect the impact on the world that your field has?

One exercise we do is reading current event articles relevant to the topics we cover in class. Knowing history is indispensable to understanding the world we are in. The exercise also teaches us to think critically about the information we encounter. Studying history is ideal for improving our historical and informational literacy.

What one piece of advice would you give your students?

This may be a cliché but it’s true – choose an area of study that makes you happy and feel fulfilled. Life is too short to spend on dreading Monday or counting down to the end of a workday.