Faculty Bio
Dennis A. Frey Jr, Ph.D.
Chair of Humanities; Associate Professor of History
Office: Winslow Academic Center
Tel: 617-243-2444
Email: dfrey@lasell.edu
Degrees: Ph.D. in Early Modern European History 1998, Syracuse University; M.A. in European History 1993, Syracuse University; B.S. in Social History 1991, Carnegie Mellon University
Areas of Specialization: Social & cultural history, early modern German history
A personal statement:
My teaching philosophy centers on one relatively simple statement: Teaching is all about learning. To be sure, on the surface this statement does seem rather trite and contrived, but in a deeper sense it is axiomatic. For instance, a teacher cannot perform his or her duties without first developing a solid understanding of the material. Thus, a teacher must engage the material through arduous study that may last decades, if not a lifetime. Indeed, the best teachers, in my opinion, are the ones who have dedicated their lives to the pursuit of knowledge in not only their specific field, but also related fields. Only after immersing oneself in the material can one claim to have the depth of knowledge required to teach. Even then, in order to improve, a teacher must remain a lifelong pupil of their discipline. Otherwise, the teaching becomes stale and outdated, and moreover, the burning desire for knowledge, which is so important for teaching, dwindles and perhaps may even burn out. Therefore, the first step to good teaching is learning - and continuing to learn. Teaching and learning, however, are not simply about immersion in one's field. Some of the worst teachers are those who have committed themselves only to research and discovery in their field. Horror stories about this abound at universities and colleges throughout the world.
To protect oneself from falling into this trap, a teacher must also be dedicated to learning from and about students. In other words, a teacher can learn immeasurable quantities about his or her discipline from the students. Therefore, a teacher should make her or his students feel as though they are younger scholars of the discipline. Perhaps the best way to convey this feeling is to learn about the students, thus creating a comfortable, open atmosphere in the classroom. This comfort is crucial to the successful transmittal of knowledge between not only student and teacher, but also among students, which is the most important thing that teachers do. Learning and teaching go hand-in-hand. Teachers must be committed to learning on their own through personal research and investigation and to learning from interactions with students. After all, we are all just pupils; some of us just have a little more experience. My teaching philosophy is, therefore, founded on this simple, albeit true, concomitance between teaching and learning.
