I didn’t choose teaching--
teaching chose me.

My teaching career began when I was five. 

My mother told me that when I would come home from kindergarten, I would line up the neighborhood preschoolers and teach them what I learned in school that day. Hello--my name is Lynn Meade, and I am a Teaching Associate Professor at the University of Arkansas. I have been at the university for over twenty years, but I have been a teacher all my life. 

When I was nine, I brought my four quarters to school to buy four textbooks. Then I ran home and immediately created homework sheets for all my friends. When my friends came over during summer break to play school, I had their homework assignments ready for them. (Yes, I gave my friends homework during summer break).

When I was sixteen years old, I asked my principal if he would give me high school credit for working with the students with special needs at my school. He approved and I spent the year tutoring teens and accompanying them to special events. I created my own teaching position. This special program that I pioneered, still exists today. 

When I was finishing up my bachelor’s degree in communication at the University of Arkansas, I overheard someone say that they were looking for teachers for the basic speech class. I asked some questions and found out that I could teach at a university level and all I had to do was to go to graduate school. Yes, it is true, I went to graduate school, just so I could be a teaching assistant for public speaking classes. 

Teaching at the Northwest Arkansas Community College marked the beginning of my joyous journey of fulfilling my passion to teach others. While there, a mentor pushed me to go back to college to get my doctoral degree. "Lynn," she said, "You are good at what you do, and you love to learn. You will never be satisfied until you move to the highest level." She was right!  

I spent the next few years getting a doctoral degree in higher education with an emphasis on college teaching because I thought it would be fun! It was. A prestigious Walton Fellowship to do retention research gave me many opportunities to research, present, and make academic presentations and to develop my skills in the scholarship of teaching and learning. 

I am a teacher, but I am also a lifelong learner.
Teaching is a joy and learning is my passion. 

After graduation, I taught for the Communication Department for nearly 20 years developing new courses and fine-tuning existing ones. Because of my passion for teaching the teaching center, the graduate school, and many departments have called on me to do specialty training programs on teaching and learning. This led to me being appointed as a co-director of the teaching and faculty support center. 

Now as a Teaching Associate Professor for Student Success, I teach classes that help students make real-world connections. My favorite part of the job is that I get to forge relationships with students inside the classroom and out. 

I've earned some of the highest awards at our university for teaching and am an alumni of distinction from my graduate program. For me the real reward comes from those students who contact me years after they graduated to tell me that I challenged them and taught them meaningful things. 

Whether I am developing classes,

teaching students,

or providing faculty development programming

I am pursuing what I believe to be my highest calling to use whatever skills or talents that I have to empower others. 

Lynn Meade, Ed.D.
Teaching Associate Professor
Student Success, University of Arkansas
lmeade@uark.edu    LinkedIn: Lynn Meade