What does it mean to be influential? I think it means: To make an impact. To leave a lasting impression. To be thought of years later. To make a difference. To make a lasting change. To teach something that endures.
There have been many people throughout my life that I would consider as being influential. Some were in my life for short periods of time and others were there for longer periods of time, and some still are in my life today. Some of them did one big thing that made a huge difference, and others were there doing small things that added up to being a huge impact. Some impacted me years ago, and some are still influencing me today. But the main thing about them all is that they all mean something to me to this day.
I pray that all of us have, or have had, these kinds of people in our lives. I believe they are placed there by God for a reason and a season. He knows what we need when we need it. Most of the people I am thinking of had positive impacts on my life, but others had negative impacts at the time, but then I learned from them and became a better man because of their influences. Some of these people bring a smile to my face, others a tear to my eye, and some do both.
I want to be clear that I am not talking about people from a distance: celebrities, politicians, musicians, etc. I am talking about people that were/are directly in my life. These are people that had personal impacts on me.
The thing about all these people is that I can’t imagine my life without them in it. I would not be the person I am today without their influences. They may not have been what I needed in my life, but they were there and made a lasting impact on my life.
This is going to be multi-blog series where I will write about a person, a couple people, or a group of people that influenced me in my life. I hope to convey good reasons why they made an impact. There will be generalization at time and specific stories at other times.
I haven’t decided what order I am going to write about these people in yet. I have a list, and I plan to work my way through them. I am sure some will be longer than others due to the impact they have made on my life.
So, without further ado I will start with a short one to kick things off.
When I was in college, I had two professors that I would say influenced me: Dr. John Rutherford and Dr. Ingrid Novodvorsky.
I had Dr. Rutherford for a modern physics classes during my freshman year. I was a physics major taking the series of classes that mostly engineers were taking. So, I was an outlier in the class. He knew this. I would visit him during office hours for help, and he was always very kind. That is something I remember about him. He was doing all this research related to stuff at CERN, and he took time to help me out. One thing that I will always remember occurred toward the end of that semester when I had to start thinking about the next semester. I was going to be starting my 300 level, junior, classes and I had them all picked out. He asked me what I was planning to take and I told him about all the 300 level physics classes I was planning to take, the math classes, and the gen eds. He asked me if I had taken linear algebra yet (a 200 level course). I said I had not, and he told me to change my schedule completely. He told me to take linear algebra and other gen eds rather than the physics and math classes I was planning to take. I said that linear algebra wasn’t on my “course list / map / whatever you call it”, and he said, it didn’t matter and that I need that math class. So, I listened to him, and it was the best thing I did. That math class was used heavily in all my upper-level physics classes and in some of the math classes as well. It was amazing advice given in an office. That made an impact on me. He cared enough to ask me about what I was doing and then gave his advice to help me along. I learned from that, and I do it all the time with my students. I try to advise them as I can. I tell them about linear algebra and the importance of it in higher level science and engineering. I had Dr. Rutherford for another class later on and again he conveyed joy for teaching in the midst of his research that he was doing. He was one of the few teachers I had in physics that showed true care for students while I was in college.
Another one was Dr. Ingrid Novodvorsky. She was my graduate advisor while I worked on my master’s degree. She has a passion for teaching and therefore we worked very well together. She helped me from day one to come up with an idea for what I should research for my mater’s thesis. She helped me tie it to optics since I already had a passion for optics from working for my father’s camera business. She led me to articles about physics education and how to be a better teacher, rather than being a better lecturer. She was the first person, I think, that guided me to the American Association of Physics Teachers, and the AZ section is something I have been a part of since college. She showed me what being a thoughtful teacher was all about, and that is something that has stuck with me through my teaching career. I still send her a Christmas card every year.
So, influences that occurred 20+ years ago and are still affecting me today. I am so blessed that I got to know these two people while I was in college. There were other great teachers in college, but these two stand out. I hope you had the opportunity to have influential teacher in college as well.