By Edna Horton/nw news editor
(Part two in a four-part series on faculty winners of the Chancellor’s Award for Exemplary Teaching, an annual award that recognizes professors who impress and inspire their students.)
Christine Hubbard is doing what she always wanted to do, teach.
Hubbard, associate professor of English, won the Chancellor’s Award for NW Campus.
Although she writes on the side and has been published in some small college journals, Hubbard said teaching is where her heart is.
“I always wanted to teach. I find it rewarding,” she said. “This is what I wanted to do. I do other things on the side. I paint and I write, but mostly for me for fun, and it keeps my skills sharp so I can help students.”
Hubbard started her TCC career in 1996 as an adjunct on SE Campus. She split her time between TCC and UT-Arlington until she had an opportunity in 2002 to teach full time on NW Campus.
“I had eventually got to where I was working administration and wasn’t teaching anymore at UTA and found I missed teaching,” she said. “I had the opportunity to come here, so I switched over.”
Hubbard teaches different types of English classes: distance learning, hybrid classes and traditional classes. She said she likes variety and finds that variety each day teaching her different classes. If she had to pick one favorite, it would be her developmental writing classes.
“I have a group of students who come in, and they’ve had a bad experience because they failed the test. They don’t think they can write. They don’t like writing,” she said. “Then they come to the class, and they learn that they can write. They get where they even kind of like it at the end, and they have that concrete experience of learning something because they pass Accuplacer at the end of the semester.”
Felicia Deanda, a student in Hubbard’s developmental English class, said at first she was horrible at writing, but now after taking the class, she is more confident.
“Everything she does is step by step by step,” Deanda said. “She goes through it with you. She doesn’t just say, ‘Here, write this,’ and that’s it. She helps you plan it and organize it. Then she gives you feedback on what you need to write and what you need to change.”
Taylor Johnson decided to take Hubbard’s developmental class because he was out of high school for five years before he went back to college.
“She really helps me because it’s developmental, and she’s really helping me get back in to what I need to be doing as far as my writing goes,” he said.
Maurice Mayfield said Hubbard has an energy that makes her stand out from the rest of his professors.
“She’s always happy. She has a lot of spirit,” he said. “Sometimes she talks real fast, but it’s good, though.”
Kendal Lance and Rose Zalewski are former students of Hubbard. Lance had Hubbard in the fall of 2008, and it was her first class of the day.
“Her fast pace and high-energy teaching style made it extremely easy to stay awake in such an early class,” Lance said.
Lance said Hubbard held her attention from the beginning to the end of every lecture. She said Hubbard was clear on instructions and worked with every student to make sure all questions were answered.
“I left her class with a better understanding of how to write a more effective essay,” she said. “At the end of the semester, I felt more confident in my writing abilities.”
Zalewski had Hubbard for technical writing. She said Hubbard made the class material and homework interesting and fun. That class was Zalewski’s first exposure to technical writing.
“Her knowledge and interest in the field is certainly evident,” she said. “She is very hands-on in her instruction of the material. She has decreased my anxiety level in this class as I am not a technical person at all.”
Hubbard has also participated in TCC’s global citizenship initiative in Salzburg, Austria. The Salzburg seminar was started by a group of alumni from Harvard who bought a palace after World War II as a meeting ground for people to gather and discuss global issues. Over the years, it became a larger seminar in summer institutes for college students and faculty. Every summer, TCC sends a group of students to the seminar for six hours of college credit. It also sends a group of faculty and administrators to their own session.
Hubbard has participated in the seminar and been a facilitator. Each year offers a different group of instructors and courses, but the main focus is on global issues such as hate crimes.
Paul Benson, associate professor of government on NW Campus, was also a nominee for the Chancellor’s Award. Benson said Hubbard is an innovative professor who cares about the success of her students.
“She is well-regarded by her fellow faculty members and participates in many facets of the college’s mission,” he said.
Ken Griffin, professor of biology and physical science, was the other NW Campus nominee. He said he is pleased to have outstanding faculty as colleagues.
“Dr. Hubbard is a truly outstanding educator,” he said. “I am privileged to have the opportunity to work among such talented faculty at NW Campus.”
When Hubbard is not teaching or writing, she is taking care of two children, ages 14 and 16. She is also vice president of her son’s high school soccer booster club.
Hubbard said she was honored and surprised to win the Chancellor’s Award.
“In my case, I’m by far the junior person of the people who were nominated for my campus, so I didn’t expect to win,” she said. “The other people are people who I respect so much and think are great faculty.”
