The distinctive character of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville is defined by the faculty's demonstrated capability to fulfill the values of the Teacher Scholar Philosophy; a philosophy guided by a serious and continuing commitment to teaching, scholarship and service in the belief that scholarship complements and enriches excellence in teaching and service.
Adapted from the Teacher Scholar Philosophy of SIUE, Teacher Scholar Philosophy Working Group, 6/2/08
Dr. Paul E. BrunkowAssociate Professor, Biological Sciences |
|
| Recent Honors / Awards / Recognition: | Primary Courses Taught: | Education: |
| How does SIUE support your professional growth or activity as a Teacher-Scholar? "The goal is to 'work to live', not to 'live to work,' right? While a senior at the University of Washington, I enrolled in a Field Ecology course taught by Dr. Dee Boersma and Dr. Robert Paine. One of our field trips involved an overnight stay on Waadah Island off the very northwestern corner of the Olympic Peninsula. Our dinner that night consisted of fish caught fresh just hours earlier and bag-in-a-box wine, with Bob Paine reviewing results of our projects completed that day and telling stories of his own studies in marine ecology. I distinctly remember looking at stars through the canopy of a temperate rainforest, listening to whales breech in the Strait of Juan de Fuca below the cliff that formed our camp site, learning from one of the most prominent ecologists in the field (Bob had just recently been elected to the National Academy of Sciences) as he sat against a tree near our campfire wearing his ever-present Converse® Hi-Tops, and thinking, 'This just might be better than becoming a doctor…' Bob Paine’s combination of approachability and enthusiasm for learning as well as teaching – his combination of “what he did” and “how he lived” – has been inspirational to me right down to the moments during which I typed these words." |
