ING SYLVESTER JAMES GATES JR.— LIVE ON STAGE
After his sophomore year at MIT in 1972, Sylvester James Gates Jr., John S.Toll Professor of Physics at Maryland, was hired to teach calculus to incoming freshmen.The first day, Gates sat quietly amid his students, letting them wonder where their instructor was. At the appointed time, he stood up, introduced himself and said, “Let’s start to learn some calculus.” Gates has been teaching with a bit of flair ever since—at Cal Tech, MIT and, since 1984, at the University of Maryland. He was awarded the 1999 College Science Teacher of the Year Award from the Washington Academy of Sciences. In 2002, the university named him a Distinguished Scholar-Teacher. When he is not in the classroom, he is investigating supersymmetry, a theory that links force and matter to comprehend the nature of our universe. His 1984 book Superspace was one of the first in-depth works on the topic. Between appearances on PBS and C-SPAN, he has served as an advisor to the National Science Foundation as well as the departments of Energy and Defense. Like the equations that express his theories, many of Gates’ teaching techniques come from within. But he learned from an MIT faculty mentor, Brian Schwartz, that “good teaching requires a performance and that performance must occur through an absolute mastery of the material.”
GREAT TEACHING, IN YOUR WORDS… The 2005 academic year marks Maryland’s sesquicentennial. Though it started small, this university—with its mission to teach and investigate— has always been carried on the shoulders of giants. Here are a few you may or may not remember … Franklin Cooley, Professor of English (1939–1971) “He drove me to do better and I did.” —Mollee Coppel Kruger ’50
Daniel Prescott, Professor of Education (1947–1968) “The assumptions that he made that everybody’s life is valuable and that everybody has potential—that inspires people and it certainly inspired me.” —Jacob Goering ’50 Ph.D in an interview with Elizabeth Tobey, project coordinator for Landmarks and Legacies: The College of Education History Project.
P.W. Zimmerman, Professor and Dean of Agriculture (1916–1927) “We had Dean Zimmerman down to the house for dinner. He gave us a splendid talk on building character and making friends in college.” —J. Franklin Witter ’28, in a letter to his girlfriend, Francis King, on May 27, 1927
Gordon Prange, Professor of History (1937–1980) “Students on their way to parties used to pack an auditorium on Friday nights dressed in togas to hear Prange—he would bring historical characters to life onstage. He knew his subject well and was demanding. Prange’s gone but definitely not forgotten.” —Donald Goldstein ’54
Tell us about your great Maryland teachers on the TerpBlog: www.terp3101.squarespace.com. PHOTOS COURTESY OF SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND LIBRARIES
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