Introductions are at the foundation of first impressions.
We do introductions all the time. When we meet someone new, go on stage for a talk, or even write one up for our bio for our books. Each of these can be the same, or different depending on the audience we are talking to.
I got a great question about this from rising PhD student star Kate Stewart. She reached out to me and asked “Karen, how do you introduce yourself to your students?”
At first, I remember thinking – you mean on the first day of class or something else? Kate was meaning what information do you highlight for your students specifically about yourself. Do you emphasize your work experience? Academic publications? Teaching and research experience?
If you would have asked me back when I was a PhD student at the University of Tennessee, I would have said – well, based on what my advisor and everyone else at UT told me, you got to highlight only the professional work you have done. I always felt – when I was teaching during my doctoral studies – this really didn’t capture the “whole” me I wanted the students to know about me.
When I came to UofL – that was one of the first things I did and I changed the way I introduced myself to my students. I felt this was more natural to me, and as a result, it really made a difference. So, if you are ever feeling like this, trust your gut!
My philosophy is to follow the three PPPs in introducing yourself by covering these areas when you are introducing yourself as a professor to your students:
- Professionally: I do start off with my introductions based on my experience in and out of the classroom. This is essential – for many reasons. First, it establishes you as an expert in your work based on what you have done. Second, students (like the rest of society) has heard all about the different stereotypes about professors (ex. they are not up to date w/ what is going on, they have never worked in the field, etc). This is where you PROVE THEM WRONG with these stereotypes.
- Personal: If COVID taught anything, it’s about acknowledging that we are more than our profession. I know as a student – I could only see my professors as professors, but I did have a few that shared with all of us their interests and experiences outside of the classroom. This humanized them to all of us, and we were able to build a relationship with them. I share about my track and field experience, interests, Mando (of course! He is our pet teaching assistant by the way!), and a few other things. We are all human, even professors.
- Personality. Life is too short to be so formal! Yes, you want to have a professional stance on things of course, but you can also showcase your personality just a bit as well! It allows you to stand out and make an impression with the students. I do not have scented bios for my students like Elle Woods has w/ her resume, but I try to make my introductions and bios memorable and true to my own personality. I feel if you can laugh, it also helps. For example, I tell my students I literally have the strongest skin because 1) I am part of a generation that killed Toys-R-Us and can’t buy a house due to eating too much avocado toast, 2) I am an elder millennial, and 3) my first name alone has gone down in society for not good reasons! Laughter is a powerful tool to have when you are introducing yourself.
These three categories are good to have on hand and keep in mind as we enter the first week of the new term. With that being said, here are some tips to remind yourself as you are working on your introductions to your students:
Be specific on what you have done. What campaigns did you work on? What brands or organizations? What were some of the cool projects you had a chance to contribute to? You do not want to write a whole novel here, but showcase the highlights. Students want to know what you have done, and it’s key to demonstrate this early on b/c it helps with your credibility.
Balancing professional and personal introductions is like a dance. You do not want too much of both – but a nice mixture. At the end of the day, you are the professor and that’s your role in the classroom, and you want to have strong expectations for the class to meet. However, you want to make sure you are viewed as being approachable and relatable at the same time. This takes some time to figure out what works best for you.
Start with the professional, then personal information. I always bring to the table what I have done, and then share with them a few things that are not always highlighted in official bios, but allows them to get to know me a bit more.
When you are asking the students to introduce themself – ask them a question that will resonate with them. I do this in a variety of ways over the years, some questions are very interesting since they do open the window into the personality of the student (and if you answer the question, it does the same for you with your students). One I love asking is Which character do they pick for Mario Kart (I swear, this is very interesting!) I always shock my students with my two choices (Luigi and Bowser by the way – depending on my mood!). It gets the conversation going for sure while making a connection.
Have a video and written bio to share with the students. I have a video I do each term where I introduce myself to the students and my background (key for online classes especially!), and a written one as well. It allows you to present the information in multiple formats.
For the written bio and introduction, you can make this fun! I have posted the one that I share w/ my students (updated this term), and as you can see, it highlights the three PPPs with branding integrated (ex. my logo and brand colors of course).
One of the other things you have noticed is early on (literally the third word in my bio) is my handle for social media. I do not say this is Twitter or TikTok or IG – and that’s the point! I am letting the students know this is me on social media – and they can see what I am sharing, talking about and how I am presenting myself on social across platforms.
In summary, the key thing to remember in any introduction is the fact you want to be yourself. You are you, and you want it to feel natural and true to who you are as a person and professional. Don’t try to put too much pressure or expectations on yourself when it comes to setting the “perfect” first impression. I say this when I walked into the wrong class a few years ago and introduced myself to them!
Again, special thanks to Kate Stewart for the inspiration for this post!
Let me know if you have any questions about the tips and tricks I shared here! Hope you all are doing well and have a great day.
Best Wishes,
