UpDate - Vol. 14, No. 6, Page 2
October 6, 1994
On a teacher's dedication and ability to inspire

     It takes a portfolio the size of the Manhattan
     telephone directory to chronicle Barbara Gates' career
     at the University of Delaware. But among the lists of
     accolades, course materials and letters of support from
     colleagues, nothing in the book is more moving than the
     letters written by Gates' former students.  Together
     they paint a picture of a dedicated teacher, who makes
     each class inspiring and fun, who has the time to take
     an interest in a student's personal life and who has
     the uncanny ability to challenge even the most
     disinterested among the group. These excerpts are but a
     sampling of what former students had to say about
     Barbara Gates:



     "I was a sophomore at the University of Delaware in 1971; I had
enrolled in [Gates'] graduate-level seminar entitled "Literary
Reflections of Women." At the time, the presence of advanced
literature students and the level of class discussion was so
challenging for me that I considered dropping out; yet Barbara's
enlivening teaching style and her personal encouragement kept me
coming to class. I finished with a new appreciation for women writers
of different times and cultures, as well as an increased sense of
pride in myself.
     "Perhaps even more significant is Barbara's impact on my
postgraduate years. She provided a beacon of light for me during a
decade of self-searching in my 20s; and a warm, steady presence
through my 30s, as I learned about balancing marriage, motherhood and
career."
                                                     -Anne Kern Provax

                                 * * *

     "I worked harder for Barbara, and enjoyed her more, than any
teacher before or since. 'Now that's interesting! What do you do with
that?' I remember this as Barbara's pet phrase-always uttered with the
bird-dog gleam in the eye that meant you and she were on the scent of
some new literary discovery. I can't think of her now without those
words coming to mind, and it must be because they sum up so many
aspects of her extraordinary teaching gift: her ability to praise,
challenge and invite, all in one sentence; her genuine respect for the
insights of her undergraduates, her eagerness to learn from and with
them, as well as to share what she knows."
                                               -Anne Stewart O'Donnell

                                 * * *

     "I first came to know Prof. Gates in her Victorian poetry class.
Because it was a seminar, each student was responsible for leading a
lengthy discussion pertaining to an assigned poem. I volunteered to
present 'In Memoriam,' unaware that it was perhaps the most thoroughly
commented-upon poem in the English language. After many hours in the
library and a week of painstaking research, I called Dr. Gates to tell
her the approach I would be taking to Tennyson's work. She listened in
silence as I glossed over the available criticism, and then said,
'Andrea, this has all been said before, you need to come up with
something more original...why don't you try reading the poem again?
You can do it.'
     "I hung up the phone and decided that I clearly wasn't graduate
school material. Nevertheless, I returned to my desk and reluctantly
pushed aside the pile of books and articles I had gathered from the
library. Knowing that I could not let her down, I spent the better
part of the following week in despair with Tennyson. The report that I
delivered the next class period was, indeed, original. In fact, I was
invited to present my paper at a graduate women's studies conference
at the University of Pennsylvania, and it is now being considered for
publication in a journal.
     "Through this single experience, painful as it was at the time,
Dr. Gates taught me more about myself than I could have learned from
any textbook. By asking me to read back into Tennyson, she forced me
to stretch my mind and my imagination in what I perceived to be
impossible directions. More than that, Dr. Gates taught me to believe
in myself. She taught me that I too have a voice. She is an
inspiration."
                                              -Andrea O'Reilly Herrera

                                 * * *

     "[Gates'] ability to get everyone to participate led some
marginally interested students to become regular class participants,
not just mere observers. There were two students, in particular, who
were noisy and disruptive at the beginning of the semester. Instead of
either asking for quiet or ignoring them, Dr. Gates asked for their
ideas about what we were reading. Her method worked. These two
students gradually spent less time talking and more time giving their
own responses."
                                                      -Michael G. Toll

                                 * * *

     "It was Dr. Gates' unfailing belief in my potential, linked with
her ready availability and tireless efforts to move me past my own
defenses, self-doubts and scholastic deficits that allowed her to
ultimately accomplish what most people thought impossible: to
transform me from an inner-city student, whose prior educational
experience had inadequately prepared me for college-level work, into
an accomplished professional in my own right. By steadfastly refusing
to accept anything less than the best I could offer, by challenging me
both intellectually and personally to reach beyond easily accessible
limits and by constantly validating my intense struggle to overcome
personal and social hardships, Dr. Gates helped plant the seeds of my
future.
                                                      -Martha T. Zingo