Deans and administrators from each college suggested two faculty members who deserve special “kudos” during Faculty Appreciation Week.
Allie Brown
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
The Golden Rule may be rhetoric to some, but to Allie Brown, it’s at the core of being a nursing professor.
“Nursing is a caring profession, and I believe that the caring I have for the nursing profession is a natural beginning place for being a good teacher. In everything I do with my students and fellow faculty, I attempt to be kind, caring and fair,” said Brown, an assistant professor in the College of Nursing.
Brown teaches adult health nursing and specializes in renal and endocrine systems.
She said she believes that each person must assume personal responsibility for learning, an idea she stresses to her students.
“Nursing students and professionals must adopt a lifelong learning attitude for practicing in a profession where change is the only real constant. Health care politics and technology are ever-changing, and the pace of that change is accelerating. Learners must be active,” she said.
Brown practices what she preaches and believes that in order to be accountable to her students, she, too, must stay current with topics that she teaches.
“I read massive amounts of material in books and online, attend faculty development activities in my field, and attempt to transmit to others what I have learned, whether it is to students, other faculty members or other nurses.
“I try to show my students how to learn for that future that is always racing towards us with something new.”
Lynne Miller
We’ve all had those “aha!” moments when things just click, and for a student such a moment can be a significant milestone.
For Lynne Miller, an instructor in the College of Nursing who teaches entry-level nursing students, seeing the light go on is one of the most rewarding aspects of teaching.
“I love the fact that I am a facilitator of new knowledge in an area that excites beginning students. I’m there as they discover how to apply information that enables them to do what they love — work with individuals in various phases of the healthcare continuum,” said Miller, who received both her bachelor’s and master’s nursing degrees at UT Knoxville.
Miller, who has worked in clinical settings and in various collegiate teaching positions, knows that the nursing profession isn’t easy. She respects her students as being interesting, high-achieving individuals who overcome often great obstacles to achieve their goals.
“I believe that a good nurse must possess equal levels of skill, knowledge and compassion, and my teaching focuses on all three,” she said. “My goal is to enable students to reach their full potential educationally, learn to love the profession of nursing and become the nurse that I would want to take care of me or my family in the future.”