W&M Professors ARE accessible!

You will see it on our website, on the CollegeBoard website, in U.S. News and World Report and hear about it in our campus information sessions and tours.  Our faculty to student ratio is 11:1.  Sounds impressive, doesn’t it?  But what does this really mean?

Well, I remember being up all night in a computer lab working out the bugs in my program for computer science 101.  It must have been 2:30 in the morning, when in walked Professor King.  She knew her students were working on their big programming projects and decided to come by to see if anyone needed any help!  Yes, I did say, 2:30 AM!

Then there was the time when I met with our group from a business class I was taking.  We were in Swem (the library) and it was about 11 pm.  We were nearing completion of our project which was due the next day but had hit a snag.  We were unsure what to do or which direction to go.  Professor Young had given us his home phone number and told us to call if we had any questions.  Well, we did!  And not only did we get our solution but he was pleased to hear from us.

Of course, even with a faculty to student ratio of 11:1, you may have an introductory level class that is considerably larger.  I had a math class that had about 100 people in it.  I figured I could be more anonymous there. Sometimes it’s good to be anonymous 😉  Prof. Rabinowitz did not take roll and we never introduced ourselves. When he returned our first test to us, he handed them to us personally.  Now, I happen to go by a nickname of Betsy, but on my test (and other official college documents) I use my given name of Elizabeth.  He was still able to hand deliver it to me.  I’ve never figured out how he did it, but I can assure you that I was not simply a number, nor was I anonymous in that class.

I know professors who have their students to their house for cookouts or coffee.  It is common for students to be greeted by their professors at the grocery store, church or the local running trail.

– Betsy Quinzio