News > April 3, 2008

By Molly Nevola | Staff writer

For visiting assistant professor of history Michael Bennett, teaching at the university since his arrival in August 2006 has been the “best two years of his life.” All this may change, however, as Bennett’s contract to teach has not been renewed for next year, despite widespread student sentiment to keep him onboard.

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Michael Bennett is currently a visiting assistant professor of history. Many students are upset that his contract has not been renewed. (Andrew Imboden/Old Gold & Black)

Bennett, who was originally hired for one year and was then extended to two, said that he did not know what exactly was happening until the matter was full blown.

“This past January, students began asking me what I was teaching next year; they kept asking about my schedule … and they knew it (from WIN) before I saw it,” he said.

Bennett said his students inquired as to why he was not included in the list of courses.

“‘I guess my contract’s not going to be extended,’ I told them,” Bennett said.

Bennett, a family man with two young children, was originally a corporate lawyer before he decided to pursue a PhD. and become a university professor.

His expertise is the Civil War military, but he was invited to join the university faculty to teach the Vietnam War.

But now, after two years of teaching various introductory history courses on top of his specialties, Bennett will be looking for something new.

And the students have taken note.

Students are seeing an opportunity, Bennett said, and in a new form of activism are asking that the department consider keeping him.

“The students here … they want to establish relationships with professors; they don’t just want an A on the test, they want life guidance … they are hungry for it and they expect it,” Bennett said, praising the quality and intelligence of his students.

According to Trustee bylaws and the College Handbook, a visiting professor may not stay in a visiting position for more than three years.

The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) sets the national standards for faculty.

“WFU and practically every university I know of follow these guidelines,” Dean Deborah Best said.

Best said that the reasons for limiting the visiting term is to protect the faculty members due to the fact that they have lower salaries than tenure-track faculty, do not participate in departmental and university governance and have a high teaching load that decrease time for scholarly activities.

“It really is not good for someone’s long-term career to be in visiting positions for very long,” Best said.

Bennett said he received a notice from the history department saying that based on their needs, they would not reappoint him at the expiration of this specified term.

“I knew unless something opened up or there was a change, at the end of the term I’d have to find something else,” he said. On March 5, Bennett received word that Student Government was proposing (and eventually passed) a bill recommending that he remain with the university.

Student Government Chief of Staff Alex Vaccaro knew that passing a bill in the General Assembly was a common method of communicating student sentiment and decided to compose a bill to demonstrate the wide support for Bennett across campus.

Sophomore Tyler Kruse, fellow member of SG and student of Bennett, joined in on the effort and told Vaccaro he believed the bill would help spread the word. Kruse was initially prompted to introduce the bill to SG upon receipt of mass emails that contained anecdotes detailing just how influential Bennett has been as a student advocate, teacher and mentor.

“I had doubts that many students shared to same level of connection with Dr. Bennett that I have formed.” Kruse said.

“However, I was proven dead wrong by the support that was voiced to me through emails and face-to-face interactions.”

Bennett continued to receive letters and emails from students, parents and even alumni and discovered that these people were contacting the president’s office and provost as well.

“I didn’t expect this, but I did know that I had made a connection with the students; I didn’t realize how strongly they felt,” he said. Bennett said he was humbled by the reaction of the students and the level of organized effort that they put forth on their own volition.

Bennett said he came here for the emphasis on the student, and though he is an accomplished scholar with an award-winning book currently on the market, he puts teaching first.

“I think that I was brought here for the students,” he said. “If I would tell anyone about Wake Forest, it would be about how important the students are and how great they are for the university. It gets lost in all of it.”

Bennett said he could not come into a job like this and put students third behind his job search and his scholarship.

“I’m not wired that way — I have to help students. I didn’t limit myself, I gave it everything I had, taught as if I’d been here ten years,” he said. Bennett said he does not know if the bill will have an effect, but he thinks that the students acting collectively for a positive purpose is a positive sign for their interest in the university and the subject of history.

“I think that maybe what’s good has already been done.”

Students respond to Bennett, and his radically unique teaching style may be part of his appeal. Bennett’s teaching is direct, relevant and heavily conceptual, he said.

“I don’t downplay the role that Christianity has played because there is a relevance of faith in the modern world,” he said.

According to Bennett, some students agree and some disagree, and while Christianity in his classroom is an option, he believes that it should be in the classroom to show its significance in history, culture, politics, war, healing and other facets of life. Bennett doesn’t use PowerPoint. His lectures are discussion-based: students are heavily involved and opinions are solicited.

“I try to make it interesting, joke and kid, talk about my mother-in-law, personalize it,” he said. “I’m not teaching off an outline — it’s alive in my head.”

For Bennett, this has been a perfect place to try out his teaching ideas — and it’s worked, he said.

“My approach in the classroom seems to uniquely work here with students. It’s like we’re both on the same page.”

Sophomore Thomas Loughran said that Bennett transformed his view of history entirely and encouraged his love of the subject.

“I learned some of the most valuable lessons I’ve ever been taught throughout my academic career in his intro class,” Loughran said.

Loughran described Bennett as a personable and approachable professor who is in love with the topic he teaches.

“His admiration of history is obvious in the classroom, and he teaches his students to understand that the world we live in is a complex place that we can only hope to understand through thorough examinations of every side of the story,” he said.

Loughran attributed the department’s decision not to renew Bennett’s contract to a lack of funds but he asserted a firm opinion on the topic.

“When a teacher comes along who evokes this much response from students, we need to realize that people like this should not be left behind simply because of department limitations,” he said. Kruse is currently taking his fourth class with Bennett, a teacher he describes as captivating and entertaining.

“Many of my peers compare a Bennett lecture to a story, and each class is a chapter they can’t wait to read,” he said. Kruse said that Bennett does not simply repeat dates, explain events or highlight trends, but rather he frames history into a novel intellectual framework.

“Dr. Bennett’s courses offer more than an alternative to reading the assigned materials — they offer a brilliant encapsulation of how historical events play out,” Kruse said. According to Kruse, Bennett challenges students immeasurably while balancing the class with discussion of politics, religion, social life and personal issues. Kruse, who will be accompanied by Bennett at the Duke History Symposium to present a research paper in American legal history, said that Bennett is the main reason he is a history major. Kruse said that he thinks Bennett’s contract expiration will poorly affect the history department.

“I might add this is a very mediocre direction for a department suffering in recent years from a dearth of majors,” he said. History is in trouble on this campus because it lacks an edge and an appeal, Kruse said. But Bennett’s courses are unique, he said, and their success can be attributed to their specificity and use of material that enthrall students.

“Learning tedious dates, terms, and people is meaningless unless the analytical skills are sharpened in the process, but Dr. Bennett’s courses manage to cover massive amounts of material while isolating specific methods of understanding that broaden the student’s intellectual horizon,” he said.

The department needs professors like Bennett, Kruse said.