Categories: LIFE

Featured Teacher #2

Jo Myers-Dickinson, 21*, adjunct English professor

Instructor: Adjunct, Joan Myers-Dickinson “Dr. Jo”

Age: 21 “That’s my story and I’m sticking with it!”

Class: English

Q: What do you do most often in your spare time?

A: I mourn the Lions and the Pistons.

Q: What is your favorite song and why?

A: Pretty much anything by “The Boss,” Bruce Springsteen

Q: What is the most satisfying part of your job?

A: When a student has that epiphany and understands the subject beyond just the subject but how to apply it.

Q: Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

A: Probably dead. I went to grad school with God’s grandma.

Q: What is your biggest area of improvement in your professional life?

A: It’s different with each job. I taught at a women’s college in Germany, and had to learn the language so they wouldn’t laugh at me. Here, I’m most proud of the fact that I can use a computer.

Q: What is your favorite restaurant and why?

A: It’s not in this country. Tuppi’s in Niedermolen, Germany. They have the best goulash soup.

Q: If you could go anywhere, where and why?

A: The Himalayas. I’m a mountain junkie. I grew up in the mountains and I miss them.

Q: What made you want to teach at Washtenaw, and how is it different from somewhere else?

A: I love Washtenaw – it’s the students that make it different. I used to teach at universities, and at universities there’s a sense of entitlement. Here, a lot of students are working and can’t afford to dick around. It’s not mommy and daddy’s money – you can’t afford to retake classes two or three times. It’s your money.

Q: When do you think we’ll get to Mars?

A: Well, we’re supposed to be there by now. Honestly, unless another country goes there, I don’t think we’ll continue or that it will happen in my lifetime.

Q: What well known person, living or dead, would you want to sit down and talk with?

A: Eleanor Roosevelt. She is probably the most interesting person I’ve heard of, and she cared. She brought the working class into the president’s mind. She didn’t see race gender or economic status. She just saw people.

Myers-Dickinson also offered some advice to students: “When you’re supposed to read the book, read it. Go to class. You’re paying for it, just do it.”