RIGHT ON TIME: New faculty member Amy Jo Coffey is teaching the course Prof. Emeritus Les Smith taught for 23 years, Telecommunication Programming. (Photo by Andrea Morales)
tough act to follow
Getting with
the program
On the first day of Telecommunication Programming, Prof. Emeritus Les Smith, TEL 1961, would explain that promptness is part of professionalism. The minute class started, he’d check the hallway for any straggling students and lock the door. If students were late, they were out of luck.
In the 23 years Smith taught the course, “not a single student complained to me about the on-time policy,” Interim Dean John Wright recalled.
Still, students spread the word about the course’s challenges.
“It probably had the reputation of being one of the most difficult undergraduate courses in the College,” Smith said.
Lauren Kingcade, TEL 2006, remembers taking quizzes in every class period “without fail.”
“I always dreaded them,” she said, “because if you didn’t have the exact word or number he asked for, it was wrong.”
When Smith retired at the end of 2005, he opened the door for Amy Jo Coffey, who started teaching Telecommunication Programming in August after receiving her doctorate from the University of Georgia. She produced for CNN and reported and anchored for various news stations. She joined the Department of Telecommunication with teaching experience in programming and management.
“It’s a blessing to be teaching something that I am truly interested in and want to research,” Coffey said.
Her research interests in media and audience economics complement the programming curriculum.
“She is a very demanding professor, but also a very supportive professor,” said Coffey’s doctoral adviser, UGA Associate Prof. Ann Hollified. “Having been a broadcast professional, she recognizes that it’s a demanding industry and that people have to be prepared to work hard and work smart and take responsibility for their own work.”
Smith adjusted his teaching methods by watching and listening to his students, he said. Early on, he handed out an extensive syllabus; over the years, he created a comprehensive chronological outline to help students take notes.
“No one ever worked harder [than Smith],” Wright said. “Not because he had to, but because he cared so much that students get everything out of the course.”
Despite the challenging class requirements and lengthy reading assignments, students gave Smith high evaluation marks. He earned “excellent” and “very good” marks from more than 90 percent of his students since 1995, according to the Student Assessment of Instructors provided by the UF Office of the Provost.
“He took the time to get to know us as students in the short time we were in his class,” Kingcade said.
Coffey encourages interaction in the classroom. “What I want my students to come away with is a solid grasp of programming strategy and theory,” she said, “so that they can adapt to a constantly shifting business environment.”
One of the assignment she gives involves spending six weeks tracking a primetime show, looking into its revenue streams and figuring out how it fits into the network’s goals.
“That’s what they are going to be doing when they go out into the field,” Coffey said, “And I just try to make it as realistic as possible.”
Asked to give advice to Coffey, Smith said, “Be prepared. I don’t think one can over-prepare before going into teaching a college class. Believe it or not, I lived in dread of going to class unprepared and wasting students’ time – right through to the last class of my last term.”
Smith aimed to prepare his students for entry-level jobs.
“I respected the people that sat in the classroom,” Smith says. “I enjoyed being in that classroom. I think the students could sense that.”
Smith’s attitude fostered a mutual respect between him and his students.
“Smith had a very thorough teaching style,” said Derek Hagman, TEL 2005, “but he made sure that everybody understood everything he was trying to convey and I think that worked.”