Stacy Chen of Dharma Realm Buddhist University: 5 Things You Need To Know To Be A Highly Effective Educator or Teacher
An Interview With Penny Bauder
Find your authentic, true self. Learn to be comfortable with your fears and insecurities; acknowledge and accept them but do not let them take hold of your life. Rejoice in things that inspire you and make you come alive. The more comfortable and relaxed you can be with who you truly are, the more open and authentic your interactions with your students will become. This is how your students best “experience” you as a teacher, as a human being.
As a part of my interview series about “5 Things You Need To Know To Be A Highly Effective Educator”, I had the pleasure to interview Stacy Chen.
Stacy Chen is a professor at Dharma Realm Buddhist University where she serves as the Associate Dean of Program Development. She joined DRBU in 2010 as part of the faculty team that created two Great Books-inspired degree programs in the broad Buddhist tradition: a BA in Liberal Arts and an MA in Buddhist Classics. Stacy holds a BS from M.I.T. and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from University of California, San Francisco.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share the “backstory” behind what brought you to this particular career path?
When it came time to decide what I wanted to do after graduate school, I asked myself, “I have just devoted nearly ten years training as a research scientist. What should I do next? Choose wisely, because this decision could determine the next ten years of my life.” I looked at the people around me who were pursuing various career paths, and I found myself been drawn towards teachers and educators. Somehow, these people seemed the most alive to me, living the most purposeful lives.
Around the same time, two of my mentors at Dharma Realm Buddhist University were envisioning new academic programs that would bring the Western liberal arts into deep conversations with the philosophical and spiritual traditions of Asia. In their vision, such a program would invite students to dialogue with Plato in the company of the Buddha and Confucius, and follow the epic journey of Odysseus alongside the journeys of Prince Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita and Youth Sudhana in the Avatamsaka Sutra. The hope was that such education would prepare students to be global citizens ready to engage in a lifelong journey of self-discovery and inquiry with the wisdom traditions of the world. It felt like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to join a faculty that would create such a transformative educational experience for generations of students. I leaped at the invitation and never looked back.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your teaching career? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
During the beginning days of the pandemic, all of us — students and faculty alike — were struggling with everyday life amid the seemingly endless news of human suffering. On one of those mornings, I began my online class with an opening question, hoping it would catalyze a discussion to explore the complexities of the text we were reading that day.
Immediately, a student challenged the question I raised: “Your question assumes that there exists a particular value construct which is preferred above all others.”
Feeling embarrassed, I sensed an urge to defend myself rising in the pit of my stomach. Knowing from experience that acting on these feelings would not help advance the discussion, I took a deep breath, applied mindfulness techniques and re-centered my awareness. Within a few seconds, I noticed my breathing had relaxed. I knew I was ready to respond.
I asked her gently, “Can you share more on why you feel the question I posed assumes a preferred value construct?”
As I listened, I started hearing the underlying emotional tone of her voice: frustration, disappointment, a longing to break free, and a struggle to stay afloat in a sea of overwhelming emotions.
I responded softly, “I’m hearing that you feel the society has somehow imposed upon you a certain way of thinking that you have unconsciously internalized as your own, but you are finding that this narrative is no longer working for you. There is a feeling of frustration and even anxiety that comes with the loss of that narrative, yet you haven’t found anything that could fill that void. Does anything I said come even close to what you are trying to describe?”
Holding back the tears, she nodded, “That is exactly the tension I am feeling. Thank you for putting your finger on it. I feel much clearer about it now.” I thanked her for her willingness to share and her authenticity, and re-directed the class back to the original question I posed.
This story illustrates how teaching at its best necessarily engages the whole person — the intellectual, emotional, psychological, social, and spiritual inner worlds of both teacher and student. As a teacher, I endeavor to engage with each and every one of my students wholly as who they are when they walk into the classroom. “Learning” is a process of self-discovery that unfolds between the exchange of ideas and our shared human experience, be it from the great works of wisdom that we read or from our own lives.
Super. Here is the main question of our interview. Can you please share your “5 Things You Need To Know To Be A Highly Effective Educator?” Please share a story or example for each.
It is hard to distill everything I’ve intuitively learned about teaching down to just five things. Looking back, here are the five things I remind myself of every time I feel unsure or anxious about teaching:
Remember the inspiration that brought you to teaching. Locate the source of your love, joy, and compassion that inspired you to become a teacher. Tap into that fire when the going gets tough and you start to lose confidence in what you are doing. Return to that inspiration as the guiding light that shines through the darkness of the night.
Don’t take what the students say personally, even if it is personally directed at you. This applies to both aggression as well as affection. Use what they say to tune into their needs and states of mind. This will give you deeper insight into how you can better help your students.
Try your best to prepare for a class, but let go of the ideal of a perfect or finished lesson plan. Teaching is dynamic, alive, and often unpredictable. You have to be prepared to shift and respond to the immediate needs of the student at a moment’s notice. I find that the best way to prepare for a class, in addition to knowing the course materials really well, is to have a practice or a routine that brings you back to your center and helps you feel grounded.
Find your authentic, true self. Learn to be comfortable with your fears and insecurities; acknowledge and accept them but do not let them take hold of your life. Rejoice in things that inspire you and make you come alive. The more comfortable and relaxed you can be with who you truly are, the more open and authentic your interactions with your students will become. This is how your students best “experience” you as a teacher, as a human being.
Believe in the best potential of your students and yourself. When you believe in the potential of your students, you empower them to be the best and most creative versions of themselves. I have seen students overcome incredible personal and external difficulties and blossom in ways no one could ever have predicted. Sometimes, all it takes is for one person whom we respect to believe in us, to dare us to dream and shoot for the moon.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
It has become increasingly clear to me that educators, particularly those teaching in higher education, must take on the responsibility to raise social awareness in our students. Professor Martha Nussbaum of the University of Chicago argues in her book, Not For Profit, that rather than reducing education to a mere tool for economic productivity, a humanities-based education is essential in giving students the capacity to become true democratic citizens, capable of thinking through a wide range of national and global issues, and possessing empathy and concern for others.
I am working on incorporating in my classes topics of discussion that will raise awareness of the pressing social issues of our times, so that our students can see that the classical texts they read and the inner inquiries they engage in, are intimately connected to the social, political, economic, and natural worlds we live in. I hope our students can apply the profound thoughtfulness and compassionate care they develop at DRBU towards becoming engaged citizens who serve and transform the world we live in.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
A mentor once told me when I was struggling as a beginning teacher: “Your students will not necessarily remember the content of your lectures ten years from now, but they will remember how you have treated them with genuine care and respect.”
These words broadened my view of teaching from a knowledge-based instruction to a more student-centered approach to teaching. I started to think of how I can not only help my students in acquiring content knowledge and understanding the thoughts of those who came before us, but also in experiencing a transformation that comes from opening their minds and discovering their own voices.
How can our readers follow you on social media?
To keep up with the students, faculty and staff at Dharma Realm Buddhist University, visit drbu.edu. You can also connect with us on Instagram at @dharmarealm and on Facebook at facebook.com/DharmaRealmBuddhistUniversity.
Thank you so much for these insights! This was so inspiring!
About the interviewer: Penny is an environmental scientist-turned-entrepreneur. She’s worked as a climate scientist, an environmental planner, and a wilderness park ranger. Motivated by a passion to raise a generation of environmental leaders, in 2010 Penny founded Green Kid Crafts, a children’s media company that provides kids around the world with convenient and eco-friendly STEAM activeities. Today, it’s become a leader in the subscription industry, with over 1 million packages shipped worldwide that have exposed a generation to think about and take a leadership role in sustainability. Penny, her husband Jeff, and her children Rowan and Declan live together in San Diego, California. She holds a B.A. in Environmental Management and an M.S. in Environmental Science. Penny has over 20 years of experience in entrepreneurship, management, strategy and finance. She’s a seasoned leader, an inspiring speaker, an encouraging business mentor, and a creative writer. You can learn more about Green Kid Crafts at https://www.greenkidcrafts.com/ and follow Penny’s stories and updates at https://www.instagram.com/greenkidcrafts/ and https://twitter.com/bauderpenny
