Dr. Eric Snader awarded Part Time Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award

Emma Carberry | June 28, 2019

Dr. Eric Snader’s teaching philosophy is structured around fostering as much interaction as possible in his classroom. “I go in with the attitude that I will learn from the students, and the students will learn from me,” he says of his bi-directional approach. His desire for his students to have fun while they learn is one of the many aspects of his teaching philosophy that earned him the 2019 Part-Time Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award for the College of Education.

Historically, part-time faculty have not been eligible for teaching awards at Texas State. However, this award was created in 2013 to recognize the many excellent per course faculty that contribute to educating Bobcats.

Snader began teaching for the Department of Counseling, Leadership, Adult Education and School Psychology (CLAS) in 2012 when he and his family moved to Austin from New Jersey. Having newly relocated, Snader was looking for a job, and while networking at a conference, he was introduced to professor Dr. Jon Lasser (now the College of Education’s Associate Dean for Research and Sponsored Programs). Lasser connected Snader with now-Department Chair Dr. Kevin Fall and the pair offered Snader the opportunity to teach graduate counseling and school psychology courses. Seven years later, Snader regularly teaches graduate courses, including individual counseling and ethics, and also supervises school psychology interns in their fieldwork.

Humor and interaction are two of the keystones of Snader’s courses. One of his classroom activities involves pairing students into groups of two and asking them to co-lead a mock group counseling session, in which the rest of the class role plays as the school students attending the session. Snader enjoys this activity because it teaches those acting as the group leaders to think on their feet when dealing with different types of students and also asks his students to put themselves in the shoes of those they will be counseling. Role play activities like this allow students to have fun while also giving them the opportunity to learn how to run a group and practice their empathy skills

Snader is grateful to be recognized with the Part-Time Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award. As a part-time faculty member, he says, sometimes it is easy to feel disconnected from the department in which you teach. This award, and the many congratulations he has received from his peers, have made him feel more connected to the School Psychology program and the Counseling, Leadership, Adult Education and School Psychology Department as a whole.