Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Beau Gaitors
Dr. Beau Gaitors, Associate Professor of History, traces his educational roots to Morgan Park High School on the southside of Chicago where his teachers and especially high school coach, Lexie Spurlock, instilled the value of education. Coach Spurlock played a key role in his decision to attend Brown University. “It was there that I met Professor Anani Dzidzienyo, who inspired me to want to become a professor,” Dr. Gaitors explains.
“In my first year at Brown, it was a bit of a culture shock and I wanted to return to Chicago but Professor Dzidzienyo challenged me to stay for another semester and I witnessed the impact that he had on countless alumni which made me want to pursue academia.”
It was at Brown University that he became a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow and graduated with his BA in Africana Studies and International Relations. After attending Brown, he entered his MA at Purdue University where he focused on History. The faculty there provided him with an excellent foundation in understanding historical methods and steps to engaging in archival research. He then attended Tulane University for my PhD in History and was immersed in New Orleans and, during his time in the PhD, he moved to Mexico for roughly two years, conducting research as a Fulbright fellow. His first teaching position was as a postdoctoral fellow through the Consortium for Faculty Diversity (CFD) at a liberal arts college, Muhlenberg College. There, “the faculty showed a passion for teaching that I fell in love with the range of teaching styles and methods that they implemented to get to different learning styles in the classroom.” After that he taught history in the Department of History, Politics and Social Justice at Winston-Salem State University, an HBCU in North Carolina, for three years. He adds, “I enjoyed opportunities such as taking students to conferences as the advisor for the history honors society and leading study abroad trips to Cuba in the summer with colleagues at WSSU.” After that he accepted a position in the Department of History here at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
As a professor of Latin America, Gaitors says, “my goal is to teach students the historic development of Latin America as well as engage national and regional specificities. I go beyond imparting simple ‘facts’ to my students as I encourage them to incorporate their discovery of existing knowledge with the conceptual struggles of knowledge production.”
Gaitors recalls that, in his experiences as an undergraduate and graduate student, he had several opportunities to explore documents from the past and engage with classmates about their discoveries. As a result, he provides students with assignments where they address digital archives to explore the types of documents that historians use. In some courses he also allows students to create a podcast for their final project instead of a traditional paper.
“I have learned that students either allow friends to participate in the development of these podcasts or share these podcasts with friends and family after the production. That is always a joy to me.”
Also, mentoring is central to his passion as an educator. “I have benefitted greatly from my mentors from Morgan Park, Brown, Purdue and Tulane,” he says, “and I try to give my students the same building blocks for their intellectual and personal growth. I have been fortunate to play a role in students graduating, traveling, entering graduate school, and starting new jobs. It has been my desire to prepare students for possibilities that come their way.”
“I genuinely enjoy the engagement of students as they contribute in class and learn from each other. I attempt to create an atmosphere of collaboration even in my larger lecture courses. The moments laughing with students and encouraging them to use their voice always inspire me.”
Gaiters says he believes that the future of teaching, learning, and faculty life in higher education is bright. “I am impressed with the collaborative efforts that emerge as we seek to provide the best possibilities for our students and work to help one another. I believe that the engagement with varying perspectives will allow us to continue to provide the resources that our students need and can thrive on.”