By Liv Dunleavy Editorial Staff What’s your academic and professional background? I went to college in Minnesota and I didn’t major in computer science. Later, I worked in some book stores, on a railroad, and in a shipyard. And in the ’80s, I got my master’s in computer science at Boston University. What made you choose teaching as a profession? In my master’s studies, I got the enjoyment of research, and I became interested in the things that I'm teaching now in a couple of courses. And so I just decided research and teaching were my profession. What are your personal hobbies? I worked as a typesetter for a number of years - my father was a typesetter - and software began being used in typesetting, so I became interested in the software through this other job that I had. Then my boss told me about sorting algorithms in one of my typesetting jobs and I wrote an article on sorting algorithms that was published in the ’80s. I’ve always liked writing - you could say that’s a hobby. Oh, and mysteries - TV mysteries. What brought you here to FSU? I’m from Needham, and I was working in typesetting, but during my master’s studies, I started teaching part-time. And in fact, a colleague asked me to co-author a textbook with him on the Pascal Language. After a few years teaching there, I saw an opportunity here at Framingham State. I started working here in 1996, full time in 1997. What are some challenges you have faced as a college professor? After about 15 years here at FSU, I realized I didn’t really know what my students were learning because you have to grade students in such a way that you [only] give credit to students for working. You can't fail half of your students just because you can’t prove they learned what you wanted in your high-stakes testing. And so I realized that I was grading students on a norm basis by comparing them with each other, and I didn’t like that at all. Fortunately, I got into a series of workshops with an author named Ken Bain that was sponsored by FSU, and the workshop showed us how to use the curiosity and the energy of the students in our teaching. It also encouraged us to give students more than one opportunity to show what they've learned and I found that if you give a student more than one chance and if you ask them, “Don't answer a question until you’re ready. Take a make-up.” I found all students could learn lots. All that I wanted them to learn - they could learn. The research is partly done by Carol Dweck - Ken Bain introduced us to [her] and her mindset, and she said, “There's a growth mindset.” If the learner takes a growth mindset, then they can actually increase their intelligence and use their own curiosity to drive them to learn more. How has the computer science major evolved over the years? It started, I think, in the ’70s or ’80s, a long time before I came here. Shortly after I came here, there was a review by the Board of Higher Education, and they said we had an OK major, but we should get accredited. So we went through a process of learning what it took to get accredited and what were the program objectives that you need to be a high-quality program. So we spent a lot of time changing the computer science major over the years and I think we have a pretty high-quality one because we take on some difficult things like the Operating Systems Internals course and the theory course that I get to teach. What advice would you give to FSU students? Beware of unsolicited advice - but if a student asked for advice, I would say, “Assert your ideas, and assert your rights - and the rights of everybody. And ask questions. And welcome surprise answers!” We learn so much from when the answer is surprising. Latch onto the things that make you curious, and remember that it depends on how much you want to learn. You can learn it, if you want to learn it.