Married professors out of job

English Instructors Karen Varanauskas and Ralph Baber will be out of a job next fall in part because their teaching methods differ from Central’s purpose, said English department Chairman Stephen Holder.

Varanauskas and Baber, a married couple, said they received great response from students, but their style of teaching interfered with the direction in which the university is going.

“When people say we were inflating the grade curve, we say we are not doing that,” said Baber, Ontario native. “What we have here is a really profound difference, in definition, by the university in its new role as a school which is research intensive. Even at the board level they are deliberating how to teach excellence. Karen and I redefined that.”

Varanauskas said she was surprised she was not offered a contract for next year because of the great feedback she has received from students and honors she has received during time at CMU.

“I’ve been a part of the faculty for 12 years and I won an Excellence in Teaching Award in 1996,” she said. “They elect four (candidates) from the whole university every year and, at the time, I was told I was one of the few temporary faculty who have won. I’ve gotten a lot of really positive feedback from students, as has Ralph. We went from top-ranked to out the door.”

The two instructors signed two-year contracts in 2001 and were notified by Holder they would not be returning. The English department reduced its faculty by a 3.5 full-time equivalency and cut 28 sections of class for the next two semesters.

Holder said the decision was made by two committees who had to consider many factors in making job cuts.

“The English department considers applications for all people carefully and either we start a new contract or we don’t. We were faced with the loss of some full-time positions; it was especially difficult this year,” Holder said. “We had two committees look at absolutely everything and rank candidates. I make as many people full-time as possible, and sometimes people don’t end up on that list.”

Holder said Baber and Varanauskas, Jackson native, used the category of process method, where students have the ability to revise several times before turning in a project, as opposed to a product method, where students must turn in the assignment in a timely manner and move on the next one. He said the university favors the product method.

“I think there is a move toward product teaching. Last year (the English department) passed a new composition syllabus and it is a good deal more rigorous,” Holder said. “This is probably something that wouldn’t have passed eight years ago.”

Holder teaches ENG 252: American Literature: Realistic Period to the Present, and said the product method works.

“My feeling is getting higher student opinion survey scores by giving higher grades is ridiculous. I changed the way I examine my students at their request,” he said. “A surprising number of students earned A’s and a surprising number of students failed cold. My student evaluation scores have gone up but my students’ average grade has gone down.”

Varanauskas said she feels her method of teaching allows students to maximize their learning experience.

“If you are learning how to swing a golf club, you don’t learn from having someone stand to the side and say ‘that’s not right, that’s not right,’” she said.

Students should be able to earn a high grade, Baber said, if they have put forth the appropriate effort.

“Any of our students, who – even though they have to rewrite several times – if their final product is excellence then they deserve an excellent grade,” Baber said. “Anybody who is willing to put in the hours of work deserves a grade of excellence.”

Varanauskas said she and her husband are trying to make the best out of the situation.

“It’s been a real strain keeping a stiff upper lip for our kids and at the same time wondering what we are going to do. We still want to stay in the field; we love teaching. Despite this, I feel we are excellent teachers,” she said. “We will land on our feet somehow. There will be a lot people who will be caught up the creek.”