UB TEACHING
K E E PING UP W I T H
Alli son Shaw
Words by Al vi n Ho
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long with many residential professors from the main campus in New York, Professor Allison Shaw arrived in Singapore during Summer ’18, where she taught COM 231: Principles of Persuasion in SIM-UB. While six weeks is a short time for one to get to know a person, Professor Shaw’s bubbly personality tells a lot about her. I had the privilege to sit down and chat with Professor Shaw right before she flew back to New York. Interestingly, what started as a typical interview question involving her typical day in school, our conversation eventually morphed into something enthralling, one filled with snippets of her past travel adventures.
What inspired you to take up the role of a college professor?
In terms of teaching, what is one life goal/motto you follow and encourage students to have?
Well, I love learning. Gaining new skills and challenging myself are just some of the things I really enjoy. Not necessarily only from textbooks, but from all sorts of different things! I think that’s one of the reasons why I wanted to be a professor because I want to get other people excited about learning as well!
Depending on the class, I have kinda like different life goals and objectives. In the US, I’ve taught Interpersonal Communication and that’s a class for a lot of freshmen and transfer students to UB, so I do teach them to manage their own time and schedule right.
Can you describe a typical day in your life as a professor? It varies quite a bit, depending on the classes I have. Besides giving lessons, professors in UB tend to do a lot of research. For me, the first thing I do in the morning is to check and reply my emails, it also includes prepping your lectures if they are not already done. I would remain after class for some consultation sessions with the students and right after that, I would head back to the office or home to “crash out”! Thankfully, giving lectures has become second nature to me and I recover fast the day after.
In Persuasion classes in Singapore, my goal is to get people to become critical thinkers, who would stop and think about the reasons behind engaging in certain behaviors. Overall, I want the students to be able to stop and think, “Why did I just say yes to that request?” or “Why am I always doing this?”
So, now on to a slightly more fun topic… We will be talking about traveling! Do you enjoy traveling? YES! I LOVE traveling! I feel that as I got older, I’ve noticed that I no longer appreciate certain aspects of traveling as much as I did when I was younger. Back then, I would be full of energy, my body wouldn’t be falling apart, and it was easier surviving jet lag. Now, there are some things that I can’t possibly do anymore. BUT, traveling to me is a really great way to meet people and it’s a good way for self-reflection.
Photos courtesy of Allison Shaw
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