I sat down with Professor Commins my Professor for my class Middle East Up to 1750, and discussed why he chose to become a professor, history major, and historian. He was quite happy to welcome me into his office and give an insight into why and how he got to where he is today.

Professor Commins discussed is process of becoming a history major, and why he decided to become one. Going into college he was skilled at english and history, which made it easy for him to zero in on a major. When a course that he wanted to take was restricted to history majors, he declared history as his major. Unfortunately he did not get the class even after declaring as a history major! But since he still enjoyed history, he kept on the course and graduated with a bachelors in history, and after moving onto grad school.

Professor Commins explored grad school twice, before finally completing his masters. Like many, he went to work for a few years after his first stint in grad school before then finally going back to school to complete his degree. He focused in Middle Eastern and Asian history because of the emphasis in his early years on US and European history, wishing for a change. His time in grad school set him on the course to being a historian, and through fate, he became a professor and historian at Dickinson College.

Certain classes are not only fun to teach, but also exciting as a professor. Professor Commins discussed his favorite classes to teach, which include discussion based classes where every student is talking and interacting. It doesn’t matter the class size, but rather the chemistry of the students and the professor, going from topic to topic with no defined course. Instead he prefers a natural style of learning which might not always be more straightforward, but it is ten times more impactful and will resonate with the students.

I enjoyed talking to professor Commins about his journey through school, and his teaching style. I learned to not worry about the my destination in college, but rather take the road most enjoyable for me.