Interviewed Dr. Corinne Lengsfeld - Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering
Q. What's your general background?
A. I have a bachelor's degree, masters degree, and a PhD in mechanical engineering. I also did my post-doc work in mechanical engineering.
Q. How long have you been at DU?
A. One and a half years.
Q. Do you have tenure?
A. No. I have about four more years till that. I'm on tenure track now.
Q. What is your definition of the university? What do you consider essential components?
A. I think the number one goal of the university is quality teaching. It can be through classroom teaching or through one-on-one mentoring. The second goal is to be at the cutting edge of subject matter. The university should be a leader in every field and have the most current information, materials, etc… It can't teach meaningful things if it's not on the cutting edge. Thirdly, universities should conduct themselves so the faculty can be current with new information - be it through being a business consultant at a firm, or doing their own research. The university should provide the infrastructure for that.
Q. What the relationship between teaching and research?
A. I think you should teach through research, giving the students unique learning opportunities. Also research keeps you current, and the students will know what's important right now.
Q. What's your current research agenda?
A. My agenda now is … um … bioprocess engineering. It's kind of hard to explain. First you manufacture polymer micro particles for controlled drug delivery. Then you observe the influence of fluid mechanics on the degradation of DNA therapeutics. Then you look at the significance of surface tension in the expursion of very dense liquids and gases.
Q. What is the relationship of research to publication and is publication necessary?
A. Publication is necessary. Its purpose is to get outside critical evaluation of the work you're doing to find what you can improve on and to keep your topics relevant. No source for that evaluation exists in the university.
Q. Is it possible to be a scholar-teacher, and if so how does one maintain a balance?
A. There are people on both sides of the scholar-teacher balance. They're usually good at teaching and excellent at research, or excellent at teaching and pretty good at research. I've never seen a person who's a master teacher and a master researcher.
Q. Which one do you try to be excellent at?
A. I have a non-traditional approach where I try to be a very good teacher and researcher. Not excellent or just good in either. My teaching style of more student involvement in my research takes less time for me and helps the students learn more. In my research there's a lot of collaboration and teamwork, which also takes less time and is still really good research.
Q. What did I learn from this interview to help me more clearly understand Pelikan's desire to modify Newman's assumptions?
A. Newman says the university is a place of teaching universal knowledge, with an intellectual, not moral, object. The object is also the diffusion and extension of knowledge rather than the advancement of knowledge. Pelikan says the university is a place of teaching universal knowledge, but also of advancing knowledge through research and of diffusing knowledge through publication, as well as of relating such advancement, teaching, and diffusion to the training of professionals. Newman says only teaching should go on in the university, but both Dr. Lengsfeld and Pelikan say that research is as important as research. The modern professor agrees with Pelikan and that makes me understand his desire to modify Newman's views of the university with respect to research.
