Life struggles, lessons shaped professor's teaching method

The song "Dreamweaver" by Gary Wright welcomed the audience into the recital hall on April 14, just moments before Dr. Hamid Akbari, professor and chair of the Department of Management and Marketing was honored with the 2009 Dr. Audrey Reynolds Distinguished Teaching Professor Award.

Commemorating the twenty years of excellence in teaching at NEIU, Akbari was introduced by Provost Lawrence Frank. As Akbari accepted the award, he recognized Dr. Audrey Reynolds in the audience. He dedicated the award ceremony to all of his students over the last 27 years, as well as to the pro-democracy students who have lost their lives in the fight for education in Iran and Burma.

Akbari then showed a PowerPoint presentation that he noted had one-time educational use (for purposes of copyright disclaimer). According to Akbari, teaching is like dream weaving because it is a mentality, an approach and a style.

"Being a teacher means bringing together your methods and perspectives with the dreams of students in order to help them find their Golden Eagle wings and achieve their dreams," he said.

According to Akbari, teachers are supposed to have knowledge of a subject, effective teaching methodology and appropriate evaluation techniques, so that students are encouraged, inspired and motivated to pursue their dreams. He said that teaching is not supposed to be discouraging, demotivating and debilitating

Using pictures of people dreaming and Persian carpet weaving, Akbari tried to make his point to the audience.

"On your first day as a dream weaver, you have to call out the elephant in the room-which is you," said Akbari. "Introduce who you are, your philosophies, the beliefs you stand for, and your likes and dislikes. You have to tell [students] about yourself so they can understand who you are."

Akbari was born in Tehran, Iran and considers his homeland as a source in achieving his dream of motivating students.

"I've spent many glorious summers in the Caspian Sea and seen dreamy scenes in Persepolis," he said. "Iran is a country as diverse as Northeastern because of the people that live there."

He proceeded to show "Working on a Dream,"a Bruce Springsteen music video, and jokingly said, "This is why teachers show videos, then they don't have to talk so much!"

His sensitivity, humor and intellect were greatly appreciated by the audience which included President Sharon Hahs. Akbari claimed that the teacher's task as a dream weaver begins in class, by calling out the elephant in the classroom, and that the elephant is the teacher.

At the end of the lecture, Akbari noted significant people at NEIU that acted as his mentors including Robert Bedford, Dean Murrell Duster, Angelina Pedroso and Dan Creely.

"As Dean Murrell once told me, being a teacher is not just about knowing the subject you teach, but also knowing your students," said Akbari.

After thanking the audience for listening, Akbari received a standing ovation.