As the 2026 spring semester gets underway, faculty and staff are setting their goals and preparing for the upcoming semester.
Coming off a month-long break, not only are students preparing for the upcoming academic year, but professors are as well. The start of a new academic year allows professors to reflect on what they’ve learned in past teaching years and depict what they view as beneficial teaching methods for their students.
The start of a new academic year also allows professors to set some goals that they hope to achieve during the semester.
Adjunct instructor Hannah Jablonski, who teaches various sections of English 150, expresses one of the goals that she brings to each of her classes.
“One of my major goals is giving students grace,” Jablonski said. “Instructors need it. Students need it. And without grace we can’t produce the best work or the best quality of our work. I really pride myself in giving students tools to become better readers and writers but they’re things I’m going to help them discover. Every one of them possesses these talents, and as their instructor I really want to give them the grace and the tools to find the talent and skill within them to become these future readers and writers.”
The goals that professors make can be related to what’s best for their students and not what’s best for the professor individually. Professors allowing themselves to exploit their goals onto their students can help them with their academics.
As important and rewarding as teaching is, there are many challenges that impact a semester. Debora Borba, a lecturer in the English, literature and world languages department, believes that every year presents multiple challenges, but that those challenges in academics can be impacted by the environmental and political worlds.
“I think every year has its own challenge,” Borba said. “The academic life can be very fulfilling for teachers and students but it has multiple challenges as well. The environment can definitely interfere with the ways that we teach. As a Hispanic teacher it’s impossible to ignore what’s going on like big conflicts and discussions. So I feel challenged to keep a good classroom environment academically and intellectually.”
Students and professors who come from international backgrounds can struggle with these things, as conflicts in their home countries can be distracting as well as concerning. The thought of something concerning a student’s home country can raise a challenge to help the student perform well in academics.
Preparation differs between professors who have taught for a while and those who haven’t taught as long. Amy Kavanaugh, a professor in the school of education, still experiences moments of anxiety preparing for the semester despite teaching at Ferris for over a decade.
“I still get nervous and experience some anxiety even though I spend a lot of time preparing,” Kavanaugh said. “But I think part of that is just the excitement of getting started. It’s the anticipation of getting back into the swing of things.”
The feelings of excitement and nervousness don’t just come from the professors, but they also come from the advisors, as they also do a lot to ensure that students are doing well.
Professional advisor Dave Schrock, who also teaches FSUS classes, applies both his teaching and advising skills to helping his students achieve their goals.
“I think you got to keep in mind that most students do pretty well, but again there’s a good chunk of students where to them the start of the semester is a huge transition,” Schrock said. “Everybody’s in a different spot and the timing is different for everybody. There’s certain things that they need to work on more than others and for some it’s just a lot. So this semester is more of a recovery semester.”
Ensuring that the academic year is off to a good start is not solely on the professors. Students also play a huge role in terms of preparation, their confidence levels and how much they care about their education. Professors set their goals, expectations and preparations in hopes that their students can succeed as the semester progresses.