Presidential Excellence Award for Teaching Awarded to Dr. Fred Fitch

By Ridimerb Diaz-Ramirez | Published March 4, 2023

Few professors are nominated for the prestigious Presidential Excellence Award for Teaching, but only one is chosen each year.

This 2022-23 school year, Dr. Fred Fitch, professor in the Department of Communication, Media & Journalism, was given the award to acknowledge the outstanding achievements in his teaching area. 

“There are many, many great teachers at Kean, so it was kind of humbling and thrilling all at the same time,” Fitch said. ”It was humbling because there are many many worthy professors at Kean who have accomplished probably more than I have and are equally meritorious of that award.”

The process of obtaining this award consists of being nominated by a fellow faculty member, who has to then write an essay as to why they choose the nominee. A committee will then review all submissions and decide who will be selected among the nominees being brought forward. 

Once the nominees are announced, the nominees themself must submit an essay elaborating on why they think they deserve the award, their resume, and a list of accomplishments of what they have done for the university.

“Wonderfully gratifying” is how he described what this award meant to him. 

“Teaching is not a job, it is a vocation, and when you work in your vocation you don’t expect to receive awards because you shouldn’t expect to receive awards so it is a nice surprise,” Fitch said. 

Born in Plattsburgh, New York, but raised in Wilmore, Kentucky, Fitch received his B.A. in English/Speech secondary education at Asbury College, Masters of Divinity from Asbury Theological Seminary, Masters of Theology from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and his Ph.D. from the University of Kentucky School of Communication.

Among his accomplishments, he is the basic course director for COMM 1402 Communication as Critical Citizenship, the only communication class that every student at Kean has to take. 

He also orients the instructors new to the course as to what the class is all about, and gives them ideas. 

“We meet with them at least once a year, if not twice to make sure we are all on the same page regarding how we evaluate speeches,” Fitch said.

Fitch created an assessment rubric during his first five years at Kean that is still being used today, and has trained professors on how to use this rubric along with other essentials for the department. 

“COMM 1402, while it is an introductory class, is probably the most important class that we offer as a department because everyone has to take it,” Fitch said when explaining the importance of what he has done. 

Fitch was awarded at the 2022 President’s Alumni Ball on Sept. 30.  Donors, alumni, faculty members, staff members, and students were among the ones awarded to acknowledge any excellence achievement committed by them throughout the year. 

Fitch’s first choice wasn’t teaching, it was actually being an actor. His parents on the other hand thought the chances of having a career as an actor were very slim, and they made a deal with him. They would pay for his tuition if he got a teaching certificate. They didn’t want to have to support him financially once he left college, and they wanted him to be able to find a job. 

“I resisted, resented, all of those things. I didn’t really want to be a high school teacher, but once I did my student teaching, I really enjoyed it,”  Fitch said. 

Fitch said he had fun teaching high school students composition, how to do citations, and how to do research, long before the internet when they had to use printed books. 

“That’s where it all started,” he said.  

He didn’t become a public school teacher after that experience. Instead, he went on to do other things that consisted of church work that also involved teaching, but he believes that this particular time implanted the seed of teaching in him. 

“I love the students. I mean the best teachers are the best learners,” Fitch said. 

He believes that both the students and the teachers are all students together in the classroom. Both are learning from each other. 

“I love when a student can latch on to an idea and begin to play with it, because, I think I shared that in class, when you start to play with your idea, you are learning it,”  Fitch said. “My philosophy in the classroom is the more laughter going on in a classroom, the more learning is taking place.”

He explains that this doesn’t mean the class is easy, but more so that you can make a difficult class more fun. 

Taking self-care days, talking to his therapist, and working on not taking himself too seriously are ways that he is able to practice work-life balance and tackle any obstacle. 

“If you make yourself a priority, then you will be able to truly take care of others,” Fitch said. 

His advice to someone aspiring to choose this career path is not to do it for money, he said while laughing.

“Do it because you just can’t help yourself,” Fitch said. “Everytime I walk into a classroom, it changes me. The best teachers are the ones who are vulnerable, that are able to admit their own lack of knowledge and allow students to teach them, and umm yeah, who give themselves equally to the discipline and to the students.”

---