‘We Want to Hear More About This Woman’

My students’ energy is what feeds my energy and enthusiasm. The most rewarding teaching moments are the times when students come to office hours and we have a spirited conversation about a Byzantine empress … or a figure from the Enlightenment … or some event that took place back in the 300s that has really captivated them.

One of my students declared an economics major, but she still took six classes with me. When she was applying to work on Wall Street, her interviewers asked her to teach them about something, because her job would entail explaining complex things to clients. She chose to teach them about an historical figure from our Byzantine women class. She got called back for a second interview, and the interviewers said, “We want to hear more about this woman.” You just never know when something that seems to be not particularly cutting-edge, so to speak, will have relevance.

It's a real privilege to see students from their first day at Tufts to their last, as I do for many of my advisees. It’s fascinating to see them transform from being unsure of themselves and shy, to people asking intricate, sophisticated questions. Last year, one of my master’s students, whom I had advised since she was an undergraduate, wrote her MA thesis on designer Alexander McQueen and how he tried to represent some traumatic periods in Scottish history on the runway through his use of tartan. It was a transformative piece of research.

I came to Tufts in 1990 as a first-year student. Who I am today comes from the faculty with whom I worked as a student and who were with me through my early career: Steven Marrone, Lucy Der Manuelian, Gerald Gill, George Marcopoulos. From them, I learned what it meant to be a teacher, advisor, and a true member of this community—a critical piece of which is being there for our students.

David J. Proctor, A94, AG01, AG10, is a senior lecturer in history and classical studies in the School of Arts and Sciences.

Our Tufts is a series of personal stories shared by members of the Tufts community and featured on both Tufts Now and Instagram.