UH
PROFESSOR BEGINS ROLE AS HEAD
OF HOUSTON TEACHERS INSTITUTE
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ABOUT HOUSTON TEACHERS
INSTITUTE
The Houston Teachers Institute (HTI)
offers Houston Independent School District teachers the
chance to participate in up to nine different on-campus
seminars led by UH faculty each year.
Any full-time HISD teacher is
eligible to attend the free 14-week program, which
starts in January and ends in May.
Teachers who complete the program
receive a $1,000 honorarium and credit from the Texas
Agency for the Gifted and Talented toward 32 of the 45
hours required to earn a Gifted and Talented Awareness
Certificate. During the program, teachers develop a 15-
to 25-page curriculum plan based on a seminar topic to
use in their classrooms. This year’s seminar topics
include structural engineering, the American presidency,
chemistry and Shakespeare and film.
For more information about HTI, visit
http://www.uh.edu/hti/. |
To lead or not to lead?
For David Judkins, the answer was simple –
yes, of course. With those words, the associate professor of
English began his tenure as Houston Teachers Institute’s (HTI)
new director early this semester.
In so doing, Judkins, who teaches
Shakespearean literature, has become a Renaissance man, teaching
on and off dry land, researching, writing and now leading the
7-year-old institute, a partnership between UH and the Houston
Independent School District (HISD) that strives to enhance the
skills of the city’s public school teachers.
Judkins fills the position left vacant by
founding director Paul Cooke, who decided to step down last
spring after six years at the institute.
“I have strong feelings about HTI and the work
we’re doing,” Judkins said. “We’re improving the intellectual
quality of teachers, so they can improve the intellectual
quality of their classrooms.”
Judkins plans to continue Cooke’s legacy of
providing arts and science seminars to HISD teachers and
fund-raising. Already, he has secured a $35,000 gift from
Washington Mutual Bank for the institute.
“Although UH will receive the gift, Washington
Mutual is really supporting the improvement of K-12 education in
Houston, and is particularly interested in helping disadvantaged
students,” he said.
As a longtime faculty member and a former
public school teacher, Judkins brings to the position extensive
expertise. He taught in English and reading in grades 5 through
12 in Australia, Hawaii, Michigan and Indiana for six years
before pursuing his doctoral degree.
“I’ve gained a real appreciation for
public-school teaching,” he said. “It takes a tremendous effort
to meet the challenges that public school teachers face on a
regular basis.”
Judkins’ challenge will be to juggle his HTI
responsibilities while still teaching graduate and undergraduate
students.
In addition to his Shakespeare class, Judkins’
other classes include Renaissance, postcolonial and travel
literature. In his spare time, he also teaches classes abroad
and on ocean liners.
As a visiting professor, he taught three times
in the University of Pittsburgh’s study abroad program’s
Semester at Sea on the SS Universe-Explorer. On two of those
occasions, he sailed around the world. On the latest voyage, he
sailed around the Pacific Rim, from Alaska to Russia to Japan,
Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Hawaii and then to Seattle.
Despite his adventures on the high seas,
Judkins always manages to return to campus, having taught here
for 33 years.
“This is my home,” Judkins said, referring to
Houston and UH. “I have enjoyed my years at the University of
Houston.”
During his tenure at UH, Judkins has written
two books, “Ben Jonson’s Non-Dramatic Works: A Reference Guide,”
and “An Astute Student’s Guide to Study Abroad,” and several
articles on Renaissance and travel literature.
Francine Parker
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