Earlier this spring, Professor Florence Dore was honored with the 2024 UNC Board of Governors Award for Excellence in Teaching. Each year, one faculty member from each of North Carolina’s 16 public universities is selected for this prestigious award. Recipients are nominated by special committees at their respective institutions and chosen by the Board of Governors Committee on Educational Planning, Policies, and Programs.
Alongside the immense impact she has made on her students, she has also made a mark on the music scene as a rock star. Prof. Dore has released three records, one of which, Highways and Rocketships, won Best Americana Album of 2022 at Lonesome Highway Magazine. Over 2022-2023, she launched Ink in the Grooves Live, a traveling public humanities program that found her traversing the South performing in rock venues and giving talks on vernacular music and civic belonging.
Continue reading below for an interview with Prof. Dore about receiving this prestigious award and her invaluable approaches to teaching:
How did it feel to receive this award?
Teaching is one of my great passions, and so winning the award at this stage in my career feels amazing. I am not sure I have ever had a greater honor. I am humbled and grateful.
How would you describe your teaching philosophy, and how has it evolved over the years?
My philosophy is grounded in the idea that learning is joy, and so I have always made sure that whatever text I am teaching has enough richness to produce joy. I think intellectual stimulation cures a lot of ills, and it’s my task as a professor spark an interest in learning. As a performer in my other life as a rock musician, I try to bring the same sort of excitement that can be experienced in a rock show to the classroom. They are kind of similar: with the fist snare hit at a rock concert, everything in the room just snaps into an absorbing force: stray guitar melodies, meandering bass lines. In a classroom it is ideas that produce this absorption. And, much like rock shows, each class is a little bit different. You show up, you do basically the same things in the same order, but then something drives you into the unforeseeable.
You’ve clearly made a significant impact on your students. What do you consider the most rewarding aspect of teaching?
When I can see that a student has caught the spark, I know I have succeeded. It doesn’t even have to be an A student—any student who sees the joy in discovery makes me feel like the foils of academic life are worth it.
What are some specific strategies or methods you use to engage students and foster a dynamic learning environment?
I like to start with a very difficult question, so that the students have something to shoot for.
What is one of the most challenging aspects of teaching, and how have you worked through those challenges to improve as an educator?
Over time, I have gotten better at making difficult ideas accessible to undergraduate students.
What advice would you give to new or aspiring educators who hope to make a similar impact in the classroom?
Follow your bliss: focus on what makes literature beautiful and pursue that above all else with your students.
For those interested in taking courses with Prof. Dore, she is offering ENGL 390.002 American Lit. & Democracy this spring!
Congratulations again, Prof. Dore!
