The faculty at Winston-Salem State University is full of energetic, educated, cultured scholars. Over 42 faculty and staff come from more than 19 countries. When the university had to pick a professor to award Teacher of the Year, there was one person who clearly stood out. They chose none other than Dr. Doom himself, also known as Dr. Michael Brookshaw, an associate professor of Spanish and coordinator of the Spanish program.
Brookshaw traveled to Florida Community College in Jacksonville, Fla., to receive the honor of Teacher of the Year, which was awarded to elite teachers across the country. This was the 14th international conference for college language, teaching and learning. The Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning presented the award for Innovative Excellence in Teaching, Learning and Technology to Brookshaw.
Some may not understand the significance of Brookshaw receiving this award based on technology, but advanced-level Spanish students are required to use iPAQ devices to do anything from take notes to connect to the internet. In fact, Brookshaw will be giving a presentation while at the conference entitled, “Utilizing the hand held computer: the iPAQ and the teaching of Spanish courses.” Brookshaw said he began using the iPAQs because he “wanted a way to become more effective and at the same time be more efficient.” Not only are his advanced-level Spanish classes required to use the iPAQ, but they also must keep an electronic portfolio on CD, which consists of all compositions the student has typed and submitted.
Some people, especially students, may think this is a lot of work for one class, but senior English major and Spanish minor Sherri Harvin said, “Not only does it enhance our knowledge of technology, but it also prepares us for the future and what’s to come.”
So where did this teacher of the year get his start? Brookshaw received his bachelor’s and master’s at Southern Illinois University. He then went on to obtain his doctorate in 1983 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in Spanish and Latin American Literature.
He has been a Ram since 1986 and has come to be one of the most decorated teachers in the history of WSSU. He may not be one of those 42 faculty members from another country, but he has definitely been in many cultural climates – including 10 countries in Latin America. Brookshaw has traveled extensively to such places as Mexico, Panama, Venezuela, Columbia, Puerto Rico, Spain, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, and Costa Rica.
Now, Brookshaw is not nicknamed Dr. Doom for nothing. Students both dread and enjoy his classes. Shari Hasty, a sophomore Spanish major, said, “At first, I heard he was one of the hardest teachers [at the university], and the hardest for Spanish, but after I got in his class, I found out that he’s not all that bad.”Students agree that his work is demanding, but necessary to make it. Derogatory rumors about Brookshaw’s classes drift through the ears of many students who need a foreign language as a requirement for their major. Every student who has taken any Spanish class here probably knows Brookshaw, and first-time students of his quickly develop a fear of his classes.
Although Brookshaw may be tough in the classroom, his personality outside class is pretty cool, as Hasty put it. “He’s easy to talk to.” Caitlin Johnson, a junior Spanish major, said, “His class is what I expected, but he is not.” Brookshaw is firm, but friendly. He is probably the only professor at the university who can roar at a student in class and he or she laughs. Students have no problem talking to him about whatever they need to or even whenever they need to as some students are known to call his house for help on assignments as late as 11 p.m.He willingly provides his students with a home number and is even known to grill up a meal and invite students over to eat.
The Teacher of the Year award is given to the person who has contributed most to teaching, learning, and technology. Although Brookshaw is excited about not just the award, but even the nomination, he is actually a veteran of such awards. He has received three other teaching awards in three recent consecutive years, including the Wachovia Excellence in Teaching award and the Board of Governors Teaching Award for Excellence. He is deserving of his professional nominations and awards and skilled as he endures on his path of achievements, continuing to polish the minds of many. Brookshaw undeniably takes his Spanish seriously and quotes Goethe when he says, “The man who does not know a foreign language does not know his own.”In Spanish, “El hombre que no sabe una idioma extranjera, no sabe sus propios.”