Dr. Deanna Guthrie came to UW-Whitewater in 2013 from Loyola University in Chicago where she served as an adjunct professor in the School of Social Work. Her professional experience includes serving as director of a counseling program for interns and disadvantaged youth, working as a clinical social worker, working with siblings of children with disabilities through a support group, and working with autistic children. Dr. Guthrie has identified her goal as a professor to “ensure that my students apply themselves and realize their optimal learning potential.”

Now that you have completed your first year as a faculty member at UW-Whitewater, can you share one reflection on the year?

The biggest thing I learned this year, is that with all of the different responsibilities faculty members have, it is not possible to do everything perfectly and also have a life outside of work. I have learned a lot about achieving work-life balance and how important that is and will be in the future. 

What is her favorite thing about UW-Whitewater so far?

The way that the university encourages and promotes building relationships between students and faculty.

 What made her want to teach?

She’s always loved school. The main thing that drew her to teaching was the ability to learn herself and to also help foster that passion in others. She’s been in clinical social work for seven years so now it’s been great to get the opportunity to help students develop those skills themselves.

What is her approach to teaching and what can students expect in the classroom?

Her approach is incorporating as many different types of learning as possible, including a variety of different modalities such as discussions, case examples, videos, lecture, and experience from the field to apply to multiple learning styles. She strives to be organized and clear about course expectations.

What is one experience that occurred during her undergraduate or graduate school experience that made a definite impact on her approach to her academic career?

As an undergraduate, she worked with a professor on an undergraduate research project where she ran her own research study.  The experience of doing undergraduate research and developing the mentoring relationship with the professor had a significant impact on her.

What book would she recommend to her students?

Play Therapy: The art of the Relationship by Garry L Landreth. She specifically recommends it to all students interested play therapy because it gives a good overview for working with children and building relationships through their play and how that can lead to change.

 What is something that students would be surprised to learn about her?

She used to be a dancer and was in a dance company in high school.

What does she like to do outside of work?

Spending time with her husband and her dog, and she likes to go to events in the city of Chicago where she lives.

Dr. Oster came to UW-Whitewater in 2013 from Iowa State University where he served as a research and teaching assistant, and from Grand View University where he was an adjunct lecturer. His professional experiences include designing, implementing, and conducting initial testing on a system for automating satellite downlink operations through the U.S. Geological Survey. His research interests include formal methods for specification, analysis, and verification of requirements and design preferences in component-based and compositional software systems.

Now that you have completed your first year as a faculty member at UW-Whitewater, can you share one reflection on the year?

Most people, including students in my introductory courses, view computer science as “writing program code”, which is true in the same way that a carpenter’s job is “cutting pieces of wood and attaching them to each other”: there’s more to it. The real challenge of computer science is to take a problem that seems simple to us as humans, break it down into a sequence of small steps that a computer can understand, try out that sequence of steps to see if it really does solve the problem, and then repeat the process as you figure out which steps you forgot to include. (It turns out that teaching computer science involves a similar process!) It’s a different way of thinking, and it can be hard to grasp for those who are new to computer science. Once students grasp this idea, though, many of them quickly see how creatively and intellectually rewarding computer science can be. Guiding and seeing this process of discovery is part of what makes teaching so rewarding for me.

What is his favorite thing about UW-Whitewater so far?

That people are friendly and welcoming. And that people enjoy working together to get exciting things done.

What made him want to teach?

He’s always liked learning and being able to show people how to accomplish tasks.  It’s also rewarding to witness people figure things out – going from not understanding various topics all the way through to comprehension.

 What is his approach to teaching and what can students expect in the classroom?

Dr. Oster’s approach is to begin by building a strong foundation of basic ideas that will continue to grow as new concepts are introduced. He uses lectures interspersed with in-class labs to allow students to try things out and promote optimal learning integration.

What is one experience that occurred during his undergraduate or graduate school experience that made a definite impact on his approach to his academic career?

His first year of grad school was a real challenge and he had to learn how to ask for help. Students sometimes need to be invited to ask for help and he tries to always keep that in mind, especially in introductory classes. He is very open to questions and reaches out to students when necessary.

What book would he recommend to his students?

The Mythical Man-Month by Frederick P. Brooks. Jr. It has a lot of content relating to project management and how it can go wrong as well as interesting anecdotes relating to software engineering.

What is something that students would be surprised to learn about him?

He has played the clarinet since the fifth grade and was a double major in computer science and music as an undergrad.

What does he like to do outside of work?

He enjoys playing music, reading, and taking walks.