Seeing students have ‘those light bulb moments’ keeps adding up for Meg Kiessling

Meg Kiessling laughed when she was asked how someone with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering ended up teaching math at the college level.

“Well, I always liked the math end of things and got a graduate minor in mathematics,” said Kiessling, a senior lecturer in the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Department of Mathematics. “When the position came available here, I took a couple of extra classes to make sure I had all the graduate hours required to be a math lecturer.”

Her path to math began after obtaining degrees from the University of Alabama in Huntsville and Georgia Institute of Technology. Kiessling worked in several engineering-related positions before her father, Edward, got sick, so she moved to her parent’s home in Monteagle, Tennessee, to help.

“I was his chauffeur,” she recalled, “and I went to a dog trainer school and opened up a dog training business. But I couldn’t live off of that in Monteagle.”

More on the dogs in a moment.

Kiessling’s engineering background helped her land a systems administrator position at St. Andrew’s-Sewanee (Tennessee) School, a college preparatory school serving students in grades six through 12.

It turned out to be the beginning of her next career. Being around students led her to think about teaching, “and when I saw the position open for an adjunct at UTC, I applied,” she said. “I started here in 2002 and found out I really liked teaching. I’ve been here ever since.”

Kiessling is now completing her 22nd year as a non-tenure-track faculty member at UTC and has been a senior lecturer since 2014. Approximately 30% of UTC faculty are non-tenure-track.

“Working with the students and having new students every three months … it’s always fun having the variety of interactions and so much fun to see them understand things, learn things and have those light bulb moments,” said Kiessling, the recipient of the UTC Outstanding Lecturer/Adjunct Teaching Award in 2015.

“I love the atmosphere on this campus and I am grateful for the opportunity to help young adults attain their dreams. I am working with an exceptional group of people in the math department. There is a great relationship between all the faculty and we all work to help each other in our teaching efforts. We share ideas about how we can improve student performance and learn from each other as to what has and has not worked in the classroom.”

Dr. Chris Cox, professor and head of the Department of Mathematics, said Kiessling is “a role model of someone who cares for their students, colleagues and people in general.”

“The students in her classes praise her helpfulness and clear explanations of math concepts, including calculus,” Cox said. “As the chairperson of our department Contingent Faculty Committee, Meg is the go-to person for concerns of department lecturers.”

Teaching, Kiessling said, keeps you young. “You have to adapt. You have to keep up to date.”

What also keeps her young is her work with therapy dogs.

While working in Atlanta, Kiessling took her dogs, Angel and Dottie, through American Kennel Club therapy dog training. “They did great and passed all the required AKC trials.”

After moving back home to help out her parents, she learned of a pet therapy program that—at the time—was held at Siskin Children’s Institute.

Angel and Dottie were certified to be part of the pet therapy program, “and ever since then, I’ve always had a therapy dog that I could take there to visit,” she said.

The last Thursday of every month includes a pet therapy trip to Children’s Hospital at Erlanger.

“It has increased my understanding not only of what people have to go through when they have a loved one in the hospital but also what dogs can do and what they can pick up on,” she said. “A lot of times you get to talk to them about their pets and what kind of dog they have, and it’s fun giving the parents, the nurses and the patients an opportunity to have something different to do that day.”

Through the years, Kiessling has been accompanied by five therapy dogs—first by Angel and Dottie, followed by Cinnamon, Cammie and Nugget.

“When I bring Nugget for her visit, I’ll usually also come to campus and have extra office hours that day so the students can see her,” she said of the 9-year-old golden retriever.

Added Cox, “I’m fortunate to periodically experience Nugget’s therapy myself. She seems to drop by when I especially need it.”

Coming soon to Children’s Hospital and UTC office hours visits is Ziggy, the newest member of Kiessling’s home.

“I picked her up the Friday before we had all that snow,” she said. “I actually got snowed in for about a week—I was ‘Zooming’ all my classes that week—and Ziggy got used to me being there all the time. We had a lot of good bonding.

“She’s now almost five and a half months old and has that look of a lanky kind of teenage dog where nothing’s in proportion. She’s as clumsy as anything, but she is doing great. She’s going to make a great therapy dog.”

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