Shortly before commencing his teaching career at the University of Minnesota, Charles Fletcher overheard two high school seniors talking about college plans. One exclaimed that she wasn’t even considering the U of M because it “only cares about research.”
Accepting that as a personal challenge, Fletcher has spent his career delivering excellence in teaching. “Teaching is his passion, and his willingness to contribute is seemingly endless,” says a colleague. One student notes that he “has a unique teaching style that creates an unsurpassed learning environment.”
He is a highly effective mentor and adviser, particularly to undergraduate honors students; he meets with each of the approximately 100 students enrolled in the program, and is “willing to help with the most minute to the most major problems.” Fletcher has shown exemplary educational leadership as director of the department’s cognitive and brain area and by serving on the University Honors Program Faculty Advisory Board. He also developed an innovative honors research practicum course.
“In each [of my courses], I do my best to: a) make the material fun, or at least interesting, b) emphasize the process of creating new knowledge, and c) force the students to be active learners.”—Randy Fletcher
And he’s well known for his role in offering Psy1001 to more than 1,800 high school students through the College in the Schools program. One high school teacher says Fletcher “is an ambassador for the discipline and takes every opportunity to foster student interest in the field.”
Adds a former student: “There is not a single professor more dedicated to or more aware of students’ needs than Dr. Fletcher.”
- Categories:
- Arts and Humanities
