Event Blog Post! Art Department Interview Presentation for New Ceramics Professor

A few weeks ago the Art Department here at Rhode Island College began holding interviews for a new ceramics professor for the Fall 2014 semester. Like many job interviews for becoming a ceramics professor the candidates had to successfully demonstrate their abilities as not only a ceramist but as an educator as well.

Wheel thrown pots done by me in Craig Bachman's class

However, something was slightly different about these interviews than most other job interviews. The final four candidates for the position would have to complete this final interview in the form of a presentation, a presentation that they would have to give in front of the entire Art Department. The department posts flyers all over Alex and Ani Hall when interviews are taking place. This ensures that every student and faculty member in the department is aware of the event and they can decide to attend if they want to.

When new positions open up in the art department the final candidates for the position are asked to prepare a presentation on why they should be picked for the job. Their presentations usually go over their schooling and their experience as well as how they plan to run their class if selected for the position.

The interview presentation that I attended was for Craig Bachman. Craig currently is the ceramics professor at RIC, but he was just hired temporarily for the 2013-2014 school year.

Teapot made by Craig Bachman

Having had Craig Bachman last semester for Ceramics I, I was extremely eager to see his presentation. Craig started off his presentation with a picture of him and his family to introduce himself. Which was totally adorable, because he would talk about his kids and his wife alllll the time last semester so I loved that he put them first in the presentation. Craig then began discussing the way he teaches ceramics. He showed slides of him in the classroom as well as slides of student work. Which was awesome because two of my Ceramics I pieces made it into the presentation!

Grandma made by me, was featured in the presentation!

After that Craig moved onto discussing his own work and education. I learned that he had spent years traveling the world and visiting numerous potters villages and learning techniques from them and vice versa. After traveling the world with his wife, the two settled down after the birth of their first child, which led Craig to pursue being an educator in addition to being a ceramist. Craig wrapped up his presentation with another picture of his family, to remind us all whats truly important. 

Overall, it was an awesome experience. I thought it was fantastic that the Art Department wanted the students to attend the interviews as well and be part of the decision making along side the faculty, seeing as the students are the ones who need to learn from this person on a daily basis anyway.

At first I struggled with how I would connect this event to some of the things we've been doing in class all semester. But then finally Shor came along. Shor tells us that "This would set a questioning tone and show the children that you trust them and that they are intelligent enough at their own level, to investigate and come up with answers” (11) To me this quote connected perfectly with the interview presentations. The Art Department allowing the art students to sit and listen to the interviews shows the students that, like Shor says, "they are intelligent enough...to investigate and come up with answers". By being able to attend the event, the art students were shown that their opinion matters and that we are intelligent enough to be able to decide who would work best as an educator for us. 

So there ya have it, my event blog! In general the event was really fun and I totally enjoyed listening to my professor share his story with us all ! :) Thanks for reading!