(Dr. Bryant continued)

How does (or has) your life’s work make you a better professor? "My life's work makes me a better professor because I can relate to adult learners since I earned four degrees while juggling a professional career, family and raising two daughters."

What feedback do you receive from active participants … our adult learners? "The feedback I receive is usually asking me why I don't teach more courses or complaining because they can't get in my classes. I am truly complimented with this feedback and wish I could do more."

Dr. Bryant has been a Florida Tech adjunct faculty member since 1999. His areas of specialization include the teaching of systems management and information systems courses.

The best aspect of teaching working adults in the Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree program is knowing that many of these students will make a positive contribution to public or private sector organizations. All from what they have learned at Florida Tech. It's this carry-over effect, beyond the course work, that adds so much to degree programs such as the MPA.

Norman W. Chlosta, M.P.A.
Assistant Professor, Extended Studies Division
Site Director, Patuxent

Teaching is working with willing minds in a quest to do more and to be better than ever before. The process is a partnership. Each student contributes to the other students, and to the instructor. The process is synergistic. You leave the class with more than what each individual brought to the class. When teaching is done well, and at Florida Tech teaching is done well, both the instructor and the student have a well-deserved sense of achievement.

Terry Raney, J.D.
Assistant Professor, Extended Studies
Site Director, Fort Lee

Just before you enter my office, securely fastened to the wall, is The Essence of Survival. It ends with the statement, “It doesn't matter whether you are a Lion or a Gazelle ... when the sun comes up, you'd better be running."

Our adult learners, no matter where they are employed, know that they must have up-to-date information in order to compete in a knowledge-based environment. And they come to Florida Tech expecting a cutting-edge education.

This is what makes teaching our students an exciting adventure. If I am to be an effective professor, every morning I had better be up and running to cull the latest knowledge available and scan the environment for cutting-edge applications.

This is the Future—this is Florida Tech.

Catherine A. Elder, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Extended Studies Division
Site Director, Hampton Roads