After Dr. Tom Morris received the Excellence in Teaching 10+ Year Award, he reflected on his teaching career and influence on his students.
“I was not expecting [the award], and I was quite humbled by it,” Morris said. “When you are given such an award, you reflect a lot about it. I feel like I was honored, but there are probably another fifty people in that audience who buy into the BYU mission, who love their students, and work hard toward helping their students as much as I do.”
Morris left the oil industry to teach at BYU over twenty-five years ago. Though he has used this time to make incredible contributions to the field of geology, his real accomplishment, Morris said, is teaching and influencing his students.
“I hope they are good scientists, that they use all the data available, and probe deep enough to be able to look at alternative explanations,” Morris said. He also hopes that he has taught his students to have honest discussions about science and life.
While working in the industry, Morris realized that he wanted to give back to all of the people who had helped him advance in his career. Though he realized he could never repay those who directly helped him, he decided he would pay it forward by mentoring students.
Morris is appreciative of all the help his mentors gave him. “I cannot verbalize how much I love the people who have taken a chance on me, and hopefully I am repaying them in a different way,” he said.
Of course, the transition from industry to academia wasn’t an easy feat. Morris said that it took a while to learn to teach well.
“I remember the first class I taught I was scared stiff,” Morris said. “I was supposed to lecture to these students for fifty minutes, and I didn’t know how I was going to do that. Now I say it is hard for me to get started in fifty minutes. I’ve learned to talk and facilitate discussion and get the students to think.”
One of the biggest struggles that Morris had to overcome himself was his tendency to be shy. Now, he said, he really pushes his students to get out of their comfort zones.
“In geology it is so important to be able to express your ideas verbally,” Morris said. “You can map up the most beautiful oil and gas prospect there is, but if you can’t convey your ideas to your bosses … your supervisors, your managers, you’re never going to get that funded, and you’re never going to drill that well.”
Morris said that, while this entire experience has made him very reflective on his own career, he is excited to continue to support and mentor his current and past students in their careers.
“I believe my legacy will not be in the papers I published or the boards that I sat on or the organization heads that I headed up but it will be in my students. Their success gives me great satisfaction.” Morris said.