At Wichita State University, two men shaped what teaching means to me.
The first was a professor whose name time has taken from me — but whose lesson never left. He walked into class one day telling a story: how he had witnessed a disease spreading through a township. At the climax, he stopped and asked: so how do we calculate how many more people will be infected? And from that question, step by step, he built the differential equation in front of us — every parameter earning its place in the formula. A subject that frightens most students became a story I wanted to know the ending of. I got an A in that class. More importantly, I learned what teaching could be.
The second was Dr Jim Kelley, Dean of University College — my boss. He trusted a young graduate student from Singapore to run the university's Supplementary Instruction programme across five courses, recruiting the top A-students of previous semesters to teach those who were struggling. He was so proud of what the programme achieved that he coached me, then urged me onto a stage in Dallas in 1994 to present its results at a national conference — my first time speaking in public. His generosity was of a different kind: trust, opportunity, and a push at the moment I needed one.
What I am today — the manager, the mentor, the teacher I am becoming — was shaped in no small part by these two men. I am deeply grateful, and that is why this page pays tribute to them.
Everything here — the coaching, the teaching, the training material, the belief that good lessons should never be lost — is my way of returning what they gave me.
