Patrick Kain

College of Liberal Arts

Transformation is more than a curriculum title for Patrick Kain, associate professor of philosophy and Cornerstone faculty fellow, and College of Liberal Arts Murphy nominee. 

Kain, a national leader in philosophy curriculum design and innovation, was an inaugural Cornerstone faculty fellow, has served several years on the Cornerstone faculty steering committee, and continues to help orient and train new Cornerstone faculty fellows. 
 
The former director of undergraduate studies in philosophy works with students across disciplines to engage with “transformative texts,” while refining their written and oral communications skills. Students supporting his nomination for the Murphy spoke of him as “an exceptionally engaging, innovative, and reflective teacher.” They also reported that the pivot to remote instruction in spring 2020 went well because of his reliability and flexibility, and how he “was also very understanding of the many new situations” students were facing. 

How has your teaching evolved over the last five years? 

In fall 2016, I began to collaborate with colleagues to design and implement Cornerstone’s “Transformative Texts” courses. What I thought might be just a different teaching assignment, turned out to reorient much of my teaching. Choosing “transformative texts” and big questions that I love to discuss, without regard to a particular discipline, and sharing them with students rejuvenated my teaching. It’s given me a new perspective on my own discipline, and how to help students connect it to their own experience and with their other pursuits. I’ve also decided to be much more intentional about helping students practice taking on a perspective they disagree with, to try to understand it from the inside and at its strongest. 

What changes to your teaching during the pandemic did you take with you going forward?

Teaching in 2020 and 2021 impressed on me the human dimensions of teaching and learning. I have an even greater appreciation for how real-time, in-person interaction helps people — and ideas — come to life. Teaching remotely, and then with necessary “distance” restrictions in place, reminded me how precious live class time is. Teaching while living through the pandemic also made me more attuned to the stresses my students live under, and how an extra word of encouragement or understanding or challenge, or a bit of grace, can make the difference between giving up and persisting — or even excelling — amidst adversity.

What suggestions do you have to Purdue instructors who want to improve their teaching and/or their students’ learning?

Talking with other teachers, in a variety of disciplines, about our successes and failures can be a great resource and encouragement.

What motivates you to do your best work in a student-centered learning environment?

I don’t think of my courses as “student-centered” exactly; what’s central is the object we are studying – usually some idea or argument or text – and our shared inquiry into it. But I do try to make things engaging or immersive, and to invite and empower each student to contribute to that shared inquiry. What motivates me to do my best work? A passion for the subject, and admiration for my students and the passion and insight they bring to their studies, and the hope that they will go on to do wonderful things with all they are learning.

The Charles B. Murphy Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award is Purdue West Lafayette’s highest undergraduate teaching honor and awarded annually in the spring semester. Each College selects and advances its own nominee the previous fall as a model in excellent undergraduate education and includes input from its students. For other nominee interviews, see the Insights webpage. Further details on the award and selection procedure and university awardees are available on the Office of the Provost website.