By Gregory Arena, Integrative Biology
Teaching Effectiveness Award Essay, 2024
Amidst a gauntlet of Berkeley bureaucracy and impersonal undergraduate prerequisite courses, students often tell me they feel that they must fend for themselves. This was my experience as an undergrad at Berkeley. In my first two years, I never once took a class where enrollment wasn’t at least twice the population of my hometown. I didn’t know I should be going to office hours, L&S advising, or what a summer internship was and why I needed one. That I thrived while at Berkeley owes much to the good fortune of having GSIs and professors who genuinely cared and welcomed me into the sciences. I think about these lucky breaks in my education now that I’m on the other side of these experiences and how I can foster community and self-empowerment for my students.
Professional development may not always feel like something for a biology course—it’s certainly not in our curriculum—but providing students with the tools to advocate for themselves and make connections is fundamental to their success. The semester Berkeley returned to in-person learning, I taught a freshman field-biology course. In that class, students developed original field-based research projects in small groups. Some students already had experience in research, or camping, or they knew someone who worked in the sciences. For these students, a career in biology felt attainable. For others, this was all very new and uncertain, even seeming beyond reach. Connecting these students with the physical tools for their success—a sleeping bag, field gear, or training is one thing. But making these students feel sure-footed in their belonging in field research is something else entirely.
So, I asked students in each project group to identify their own personal strengths and to associate those strengths with all the various tasks they would need to complete that semester, whether that was driving to a site, graphing figures, or pitching a tent. I then asked groups to delegate project tasks accordingly, but with one catch. Students had to share the unique knowledge they brought to their group with their group mates. Rather than students feeling that they were deficient in what they didn’t know, students found confidence and camaraderie through skill-sharing. Surveying students later that semester, many who had initially felt hesitant about field research or science now recognized their aptitude because of how they had applied existing strengths to novel challenges.
I also looked for ways to connect what students learned with future jobs. I spent 5 years working in natural resource management, so I would highlight the relevance of lessons in class to the work I did, or to career paths of interest to my students. Not every student will have the opportunity or privilege to work in a lab or hold a summer internship. Most summers as an undergrad I janitored. Like some of my students, my college resume appeared slim and did not speak to my capacities in science. That’s why I took time to highlight how best to phrase students’ classwork and accomplishments as transferable or direct skills on a resume. Additionally, for many students, talking to faculty or prospective employers can be daunting. In class, we coached students on how to reach out to faculty who could help them with their research, and how to cultivate these relationships, as they looked for future opportunities. In the years since, I have been a reference for jobs or written letter of recommendation for 12 of my students from that semester. Many have shared with me the value of these practical lessons and interpersonal skills in attaining their academic and career goals.
At the end of the semester, we held a symposium to share the students’ research. I wanted it to be special for my students, for them to feel part of the academic community. Rather than booking a fluorescent-lit lab room for their presentations, I coordinated the use of Julia Morgan Hall in the UC Botanical Gardens. My co-instructor and I found a keynote speaker in the garden’s director. We prepared food, flower arrangements, and printed programs to bring gravitas to the occasion. We invited faculty and staff who had helped our students with their projects, and many students invited friends and family as well. For a class of just 20 students we had over 80 attendees, and the outpouring of support from faculty, staff and loved ones showed the students how much they had accomplished and that their presence and ideas had value in this space. As educators, we are entrusted with a powerful responsibility of leading our students toward recognizing their potential. The poise, confidence, and smiles on my students’ faces that day told me that they knew they were exactly where they were supposed to be, and that they belonged.