Thomas Hindelang - A Teacher's Teacher

January 07, 2014

With the signature cowboy hat that he dons on his frequent walks around campus, his distinguished gray beard and colorful ties, Vice Dean Tom Hindelang is hard to miss. After almost 40 years at Drexel University, he’s legendary for having taught thousands of students and mentored scores of faculty. (In fact, a handful of LeBow faculty members are Hindelang’s former students!)

“No doubt, as a professor I was very demanding,” Hindelang says. “I outlined what the course’s learning objectives were, and I told my students that there was no easy way to achieve them other than to work hard. I told them, ‘Do your part, and I’ll do mine.’ I wanted to share my knowledge. I showed them the applicability to what I was teaching and how it related to their everyday lives. I wanted them to learn.”

Though he is no longer in the classroom, having taken on more administrative responsibilities, Hindelang is still impacting students by working with LeBow faculty to enhance teaching and learning. He prides himself on the fact that the College has a very rigorous tenure process for faculty. The process ensures that only the best professors who are recognized as great teachers, researchers and service-oriented, are promoted, and that the students — “the reason why we are here” — receive the best education possible. Additionally, he has been at the forefront of establishing programs to support teaching, including the Center of Teaching Excellence (CTE), which he established in 2002. The CTE runs programs committed to improving the level of teaching excellence and the quality of the student experience. The programs are led by Distinguished Teaching Fellows whom Hindelang handpicks because of their commitment to teaching and the recognition by their peers and students as effective educators.

“We are almost unique among business schools,” Hindelang begins. “Universities will often have a Center of Teaching Excellence, but not business colleges. We are committed to teaching techniques completely centered around the business discipline. That is critical.”

Developing future teachers is part of the Center’s mission.

The Teaching Fellows work with Ph.D. students who have little or no experience yet are required to teach some classes as part of their curriculum.

“One of the four learning goals that we have for the graduates of our program is to develop effectiveness in teaching. We have a rubric, an evaluation form that we use. It’s an important level of achievement. More than 90 percent of our graduates go on to become academics, so it’s essential that they become good teachers. For the remainder who will go on to industry, they need to learn how to present and explain information.”

How do we ensure that our students are learning?

“Just like in business, we are accountable,” Hindelang explains. “The way in which we make sure that our students are learning and succeeding is by making our faculty accountable. Every academic program at LeBow has a specific set of learning goals that professors have to meet. They need to demonstrate that our students are meeting our goals.”

Earlier this year the CTE hosted its first ever Business Professor Teaching Summit to bring business school educators together to share innovative and effective strategies for enhancing student learning across all business disciplines. More than 60 papers were shared by professors from 25 institutions.

“The feedback we received from the event was tremendous,” he says. “It was a wonderful opportunity to share information among our colleagues in the area, as well as to showcase our Center. We are proud of the work and progress we have made in the Center as well as the recognition we have received within the University for our teaching.” (LeBow professors have been recognized by the University for its highest teaching award the last three years.)

Hindelang also has a lot to be personally proud of: five of his faculty are his former students. They are Tony Curatola ’75, MBA ’77, the Joseph Ford Professor of Accounting; Richard Freedman ’72, department head of legal studies; Amy Kratchman MBA ‘91, associate clinical professor of finance; Dana D’Angelo MBA ’92, clinical professor of general business; and Jodi Cataline ’90, clinical associate professor of general business.

“It gives me great pleasure to think that my passion for teaching excellence in my classes had even a small part to play in motivating these outstanding individuals to pursue careers in higher education,” Hindelang says. “I am incredibly proud of the fact that, after they earned their degrees, they left Drexel, pursued their careers and achieved significant success, and then wanted to pursue careers in academia and were hired as full-time faculty members at Drexel.

“They became very gifted teachers as well,” Hindelang continues, “and over the years were selected as Distinguished Fellows of the CTE. All five have clearly demonstrated their passion for teaching excellence and their accomplishments in helping students to achieve learning goals.

“One of my favorite quotes is that ‘educators touch eternity by passing on knowledge and their passion for teaching and learning to their students who then continue to refine and improve everything, before they pass everything along to the next generation of students.’”

For almost 40 years at Drexel, Vice Dean Hindelang has “touched eternity” for generations of Drexel students, and his Center for Teaching Excellence will ensure that standard for generations to come.

Thomas Hindelang, PhD passed away suddenly, shortly after the issue was published.