by our new yet anonymous “Points of View” professor

Intimidating. Frightening. Scary. These are not the words I ever expected to receive on any evaluations, but in all their varying forms and phrases, they were a constant refrain in my first UC student evaluations. When I started at UC in the fall of 2006 (I had taught previously while I completed my PhD), I had grown accustomed to seeing words like “hard,” “demanding,” and “rigorous.” Prior to graduate school, I taught in the Army, and later, as a professional consultant, I led a myriad of training sessions. In all of these situations, I had never once been called intimidating or frightening or scary.

I tried to replay in my mind my teaching persona at UC compared to my previous personas. I could not for the life of me come up with a substantial difference that would account for the students’ new perceptions of me. I told myself I would wait and see what the next quarter’s evaluations showed. Alas, the same thing. In the third quarter, I tried a new tactic and asked a colleague to visit my class. And guess what? Yep, she used the word “intimidating,” too. Even though I had a detailed conversation with my colleague, she couldn’t specify why or how she felt that way. She attributed it to a combination of factors. It was, simply, my presence in the classroom.