SLU Celebrates Teaching at Ceremony

04/04/2025

Neil Jansen, assistant professor of accounting, doesn’t regret leaving the corporate world behind.

Before coming to SLU, Jansen worked in the financial industry before pivoting to pursue a career in academia. 

“There’s not one day, I can honestly say, in my 17 years here at SLU that I’m not excited to walk in the classroom,” he said. “I loved my time in corporate America where I worked for 15 years, but I truly believe I made the right choice and I hope that shows every day.”

Jansen shared his perspective on teaching at Saint Louis University’s Celebration of Teaching Ceremony. For the second straight year, the Office of the Provost organized the event to honor members of SLU who have won institution-level awards in the past year.

The ceremony took place Wednesday afternoon in the Sinquefield Stateroom and featured addresses from Jansen and four other faculty winners. 

Jansen, who won the Nancy McNeir Ring Award which is SLU’s highest honor for teaching, said he tries to keep things light in his classroom and is fond of self-deprecating humor. He also makes a point to learn student’s names and wants them included in class.

Jennifer Buehler, Ph.D., associate professor of educational studies, said she also values student’s input so much she takes copious notes during class on her handy clipboard. Buehler was one of Emerson’s Excellence in Teaching Awards Program winners. The award recognizes educators in the St. Louis metropolitan area annually for their leadership in and passion for teaching, their contributions to student learning, and their knowledge and creativity.

Buehler shared her story from her early days of teaching when she felt scared and overwhelmed. 

“Anyone who tells you that teaching is easy is lying,” she said. “It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but for 32 years I’ve kept showing up.”

Buehler said she found her footing as a teacher and has managed her fear thanks to three “artifacts”. The artifacts were a clipboard for note taking, circle desks for classroom collaboration and suitcases full of books to loan to students to hopefully foster a love of reading. 

Another recipient of the Emerson Excellence in Teaching Award was Christina Garcia, Ph.D., associate professor of Spanish. Garcia used her time to talk about her research. 

Garcia talked about how, as a linguist, she studies how people talk but knows there is no “right” way to speak. The perception that there is a proper way to speak is biased, she said.

Garcia said this point is something she uses with her students to encourage them to think differently and take a closer look at things. 

“I ask students to consider where linguistic “norms” originate and who gets to decide what is correct or acceptable,” she said. “Throughout our exploration, my goal is for students to see that dialect variation is not rather or haphazard, but rather follows patterns. This challenges the idea that minoritized dialects are sloppy or lazy by showing that there is structure beneath the feature of every dialect.”

Garcia said these discussions have been impactful for her and have inspired her in her teaching career. 

Garcia also was recognized for receiving The Reinert Center’s James H. Korn Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Award recipient with Dan Nickolai, Ph.D., associate professor of French and director of the Language Resource Center. 

Shannon Cooper-Sadlo, Ph.D., associate clinical professor of social work and Meadow Campbell, Ph.D., assistant professor of anatomy, won the University Core’s Ignite Instructor of the Year Awards for the spring 2024 and fall 2024 semesters.

Armed with a PowerPoint, Cooper-Sadlo broke down her teaching philosophy which she summed up with the acronym PACE. PACE stands for Playfulness, Acceptance, Curiosity and Empathy. 

Cooper-Sadlo said playfulness means bringing joy to the classroom. She said she likes to joke around and have fun with students. Acceptance means understanding the students in a non-judgmental way and also accepting herself. 

Cooper-Sadlo said curiosity is her natural inclination — a lifelong desire to know things. To do this, she focuses not on the why, but on the bigger picture.

“Instead of asking why the student didn’t turn in this work, ask what is going on with the student,” she said. “It’s a much better question. You have to wonder what may be happening if they’re not showing up to class instead of taking it personally and thinking they just don’t want to spend time with me.”

The final part, empathy, stems from her background as a social worker. Cooper-Sadlo said it’s important to see and hear students. 

Campbell used her time to talk about her Core class — “Dissecting a Timeline: Anatomy Through the Ages.” Campbell’s class is about the history of anatomy without diving deep into things like the cadaver lab. 

“We’re left with stories,” she said. “Stories of the times and the people and the places. Often we have stories of feuds that make up the history of anatomy.”

To give a taste of what her class was like, Campbell shared a short story that connected anatomy to St. Ignatius of Loyola. Campbell explained the background of Realdo Colombo, an anatomist in the 1500s. He was a pioneer in the field. 

To tell the story of anatomy, Colombo had to be included, Campbell said. While researching him for her Core class, she discovered that he had a connection to SLU. Following his death, Colombo performed the autopsy on St. Ignatius of Loyola. St. Ignatius was the founder of the Jesuits who founded Saint Louis University and the Ignite Seminars are named after St. Ignatius.

“Coincidences like this that are 450 years in the making are one the reasons why I find the Ignite seminars so fulfilling and exciting,” she said.