Called to Teach: Heroes in the Classroom

Called to Teach: Heroes in the Classroom

What did your favorite teacher teach you? Did you, through their intercession, get your first glimpse of the richness of speaking a new language? Perhaps they helped you reason through your first geometry proof or taught you how to code.

Does that sum up this teacher’s significance to you? Or is it an unsatisfying tribute to say about the person who opened your eyes to the world around you in a new and exciting way...who provided the spark that would ignite one of the defining passions of your life... that they simply taught you...French?

"Teachers are the representatives of a culture... Their task is to ensure the passing on of the wisdom of a people." 

- Louise Cowan

“Teachers are the representatives of a culture,” wrote the late Louise Cowan, university professor and former dean of the Braniff Graduate School of Liberal Arts. “Their task is to ensure the passing on of the wisdom of a people.”

The University of Dallas has always understood that good teaching goes beyond the simple transfer of information and has the power to shape individual human lives and characters. And, by a conservative estimate, UD alumni will pass on the wisdom of a people to approximately 40,000 students this year at public, private and charter schools. That’s an appropriate legacy and a sober responsibility for a school who aims to form its students in virtue so that they may lead and serve their communities.

With more than 60 years of experience forming teachers, the university has been hard at work on new ways to prepare teachers for work in this problematic and changing world.

"We’re combining our devotion to the western and Christian intellectual tradition with innovation through a number of new programs for educators." 

- Joshua Parens, Ph.D.

“We’re combining our devotion to the western and Christian intellectual tradition with innovation through a number of new programs for educators,” said Braniff Graduate School Dean Joshua Parens.

For teachers in classical schools, UD now offers the Classical Education Graduate Program, comprised of three tracks: the Master of Arts in Humanities with Classical Education Concentration, the Master of Humanities with Classical Education Concentration and the 18 credit-hour Certificate of Classical Learning.

The program combines coursework in the trivium and the history and philosophy of liberal education with other graduate level work in the teachers’ subject areas. Students also have the opportunity to apprentice with a local classical teacher.

"An education in the classics is an education in character, and embedded in that classical and Christian tradition is an understanding of courage and heroism and loyalty."

- Susan Hanssen, Ph.D. 

“An education in the classics is an education in character, and embedded in that classical and Christian tradition is an understanding of courage and heroism and loyalty. That is something that can really be lost in our culture today,” said Susan Hanssen, associate professor of history.

The mission of buoying up the culture of our Catholic schools has also greatly increased within the university’s purview. For educators in Catholic schools, UD has developed the Master of Catholic School Leadership, which provides Catholic school administrators and leaders with the faith foundation and practical skills needed to lead, and the Catholic Teacher Certificate, an 18 credit program focused on giving elementary and secondary teachers the pedagogical skills and foundation in Church teaching to be effective at a Catholic school.

"It is imperative that our teachers are strong not only academically, rooted in best practices and the latest research-based teaching methods, but also spiritually driven, strong in not only personal faith practices but also in the ministry of teaching."

- Matthew Vereecke, Ed.D., Superintendent of Catholic Schools

“Within the diocese, we have two goals: to ensure that every child in our care has access to college and heaven” said Dallas Diocese Superintendent of Catholic Schools Matthew Vereecke. “As such, it is imperative that our teachers are strong not only academically, rooted in best practices and the latest research-based teaching methods, but also spiritually driven, strong in not only personal faith practices but also in the ministry of teaching.”

The university has also leveraged the expertise of its Education Department within the Braniff Graduate School to offer the 4 + 1 Master of Arts in Teaching program for all educators. Through the 4+1 program, students take graduate courses from the Braniff Graduate School during their senior year, earning a both bachelor’s degree and a master’s in teaching in five years.

The thousands of alumni who are now passing on the wisdom of a people to students throughout the nation began their time at UD considering the heroes of Homer’s “Iliad.” In the vocation to teach, Cowan saw a continuation of that heroic quest.

"Now we are standing at a time of great change. Education is the only heritage that we can give a generation that will have to make the transition and thus for a time bear the world on its shoulders, like Herakles relieving Atlas. The burden of this education falls on teachers who must prepare these young heroes destined to carry on our tradition of freedom and dignity," once stated Cowan.

Learn more about how the Classical Education Graduate Program, the Master of Catholic School Leadership, the Catholic Teacher Certificate or the 4 + 1 Master of Arts in Teaching can help you fulfill your vocation to teach.

The University of Dallas’ mission is to form students in intellectual and moral virtues to prepare them to lead and serve their communities in a problematic and changing world. This is part two of a three-part series examining the “new renaissance” of programs at the University of Dallas that support UD’s mission to form servant-leaders.