It’s not uncommon to have a foreign professor at Ohio University, but this number continues to rise.
About 32 percent of full-time and part-time faculty members have identified as Native or Alaskan American, African American, Asian American, Hawaiian or Pacific, Hispanic, international, an unknown ethnicity or shared two different ethnic backgrounds, according to the Fall 2011 statistics by OU’s Office of Institutional Research.
While in the 2010-2011 academic year, the number of faculty who identified themselves as a minority — being either black, non-Hispanic, American Indian, Alaska native, Asian, Pacific Islander or Hispanic, totaled about 13 percent, according to statistics by OU’s Office of Institutional Research.
All foreign professors must go take a linguistics test in order to teach or assist a class. The test consists of pronunciation and is required by Federal Law. Failure to pass the test will result in taking a series of classes before being able to teach, said teaching assistant, Jean Claude Kwitonda.
“I’ve had a couple professors here that have troubled me in the classroom due to language barriers. But I found that if the professor knows your struggling they are willing to help you figure out what is going on,” said Christian Borne, a sophomore whose major is undecided. “What really helped me get through my classes was talking to others in the class and having them help me understand the materials.”
Betsy Briju, biology professor, related her work as a teaching assistant to those students having trouble in class.
“While I was a T.A. I found that more students who had questions or difficult times came to me and asked me to clarify the confusions in the classroom,” Briju said. “Now that I’m a professor I feel that students don’t take the time to come see me if they have problems. They need to let go of fears about talking to the professor.”
Briju said she encourages students to come visit her during her office hours and ask questions.
“There is no such thing as a stupid question, students who come to me for help benefit a lot and give me a chance to see what I need to work on in the classroom,” Briju added.
Transferring to a different class, dropping the class altogether and getting additional help are all options that students can pursue. However, many tools are available to a student to get the help they need by staying in the classroom as well.
“The first day of class I always tell my students that I’m not from here, I came from Africa. I sound different,” said Communication Studies Adjunct Professor Fletcher Ziwoya. “I tell my students to raise their hands if they don’t understand what I’m saying. If they leave my classroom confused it is offending to me, because I do give them opportunities.”
History professor Sony Karsono encourages any student who is having trouble with his class to receive help from the teaching assistants and to utilize office hours.
jp855711@ohiou.edu
