2024 Professor of the Year Sheri Waltz

Last updated on September 23, 2024

By: Kathryn F. Hoxie
Writer

I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Vol State’s 2024 Professor of the Year, Sheri Waltz, and had the opportunity to get to know more about her journey in education and life. I feel like my key take away from my conversation with her was that you can turn your experience at Vol State into anything that you want! After spending about an hour in her presence, it was evident why her peers voted her as Professor the Year. If you’ve ever had her as a professor, you’d likely agree that Professor Waltz brings a certain kind of enthusiasm to her role that makes you excited to learn!

So where did it all begin? She started Vol State and Western Kentucky University in 2008 as an adjunct. She taught at both institutions for several years until a term position opened up at Vol State, then eventually made her way into a tenured position. Prior to that, she lived in California, where she briefly taught at Cal State Fullerton. She actually spent 15 years doing training and development within corporate America, but her entire career has revolved around some kind of education.

When I asked her if teaching was her dream as a child, she explained, “It was absolutely not what I wanted to do as a child…I don’t really remember having a dream about being a teacher.” She didn’t initially enjoy teaching as she was very young due to graduating early and earning her first Master’s degree at a young age. She was just 20 years old teaching kids only a couple years younger than herself at the time.

In retrospect, she now realizes many new teachers go through similar things, but her main point of discomfort was based on how close in age she was with the students she was teaching. That’s when she left teaching behind to enter corporate America, though she always came back to some form of instruction even from the HR space. She designed classes, wrote classes, and taught classes, and really enjoyed it.

Waltz’s alma mater contacted her to find out if she would be interested in teaching some of those kind of classes at night. From there, she returned formally to teaching and found a passion for it. At that point in her life and career, she felt like she had something of value to offer based on her many years of experience and felt a sense of confidence she didn’t yet have during the years prior. She then decided she would teach full time instead of splitting her time between her corporate life and teaching. That’s when she made the move from California to Georgia, where Nashville and Kentucky were within driving distance for her teaching positions.

So if teaching wasn’t her childhood dream, something or someone must have influenced her decision to dive into teaching. When I asked her about this, it was as if her answer was waiting to be exclaimed! She was quick to spout off the names of two professors who were pivotal in her journey to becoming a professor: Janine Congleton & Robert “Bob” Emery.

She explained that she was not even going to be a communications major initially when she started school. Janine Congleton was her first professor when she headed onto the communications track at Cal State Fullerton and made her fall in love with the communications field, teaching things like rhetorical analysis.

She ended up staying on to complete her first Masters and that’s when Bob Emery came into play. “He just reinvented what education meant to me,” she explained of Emery. She credits him for opening her up to lifelong learning and about the notion that school is more than just getting a grade. She admits that he had planted those seeds the first time around in his classes during her first Master’s, but she was hearing him with new ears during her second Master’s degree. Professor Waltz believes that life has a way of working itself out regardless of your plan. She notes, “what is in store for you is going to be way beyond what you can even fathom so don’t limit yourself!” 

And while some professors may have reservations about technology in the classroom, she embraces technology. She’s really into AI and welcomes bringing lap tops and cell phones into class. In fact, when technology first shifted, she was one of the few communications professors who requested that her classrooms be in computer labs. She admits that sometimes technology works and sometimes it doesn’t, but she has found that being willing to try anything is something that has been one of her strengths.

Waltz considers herself very flexible and open-minded, which is a great strength of long term educators. She credits Bob Emery for that part of her approach to teaching. She also explains, “I am on TikTok everyday of my life!” She even teaches a whole course on it, but admits she doesn’t post on the app. She went on to say, “I don’t think technology is going away…I think it depends on the class.” She can see how AI is a struggle for something like English composition classes, but with her classes, AI can assist to help start something. It can alleviate some of the stress of writing, but ultimately her students still have to do the speaking part so technology can serve as more of a supportive device than a replacement for learning.

When asked about the lessons she’s learned from her students, she shared some gems about what she’s gained from them over the years. She shared that she is continuously impressed by high school/ dual enrollment students with their awe and wonder of life. They are in a different stage of life and excited for the possibilities of the future. Overall, the students at Vol State impress her by the things they have to accomplish to be here (jobs, childcare, divorces, etc). She acknowledges that they have huge things to overcome and still show up. To those students, she says, “You have persevered. Be proud!”

When it comes to advice for new students, she imparted some great wisdom. “I think the best thing you can do is to get involved!” She said that studies have shown that people who persevere are people who do more than just attend class. (Not that that’s not important!) She went on to say that that many students who make it to graduation are students that find something else to be involved in while they’re in school. Having a reason to come to campus is important because not every class is going to be easy or will be enjoyed. Do something unrelated to your major or parlay it into something that has to do with your career. “You and everybody else is going to have the same degree, but what’s going to set you apart are the things you have done while you’re in school.”

You may catch her outside of class if you’re into cookie decorating or crafts! She has a lot of interests outside of class and enjoys staying busy. “I love to do crafts; I love to do anything that is creative, but  I just don’t like to do anything for a long period of time, which is why I kind of love technology because it’s always changing.” And if you happen to see her on campus on her birthday coming up on October 3^rd, you could play her a country song or some early Taylor Swift- that’s her favorite! It’s easy to tell why this Swiftie is a favorite among students and faculty of Vol State!