Title: Professor Emerita

Company: St. Lawrence University

Location: New York

As a child, Professor Andrea Nouryeh was more interested in dance and music until an English teacher in high school turned her onto literature. Wielding 20 years of experience in higher education, she served as a role model for her students, challenging them to think outside the box, and changing their way of thinking, so that they challenge the status quo. Professor Nouryeh has always worked hard to give students a voice, and satiated the notion that they never needed a guaranteed fix for academia work to begin to take action.

In the forefronts of her profession as a woman in today’s world, Professor Nouryeh attributes her success to her commitment to her students, and using her tools as a teacher to influence change in the world. She also believes that teaching high school has directed her in the direction of feeing natural in classroom and learning environments. Although she is semi-retired now, she still teaches part-time, and is currently instructing a course about cultural immersion. During her free-time, Professor Nouryeh supports the Poversty Law Center.

A few words on her profession from Professor Nouryeh, “My love for writing led me to my first job in the publishing industry where I discovered the opportunity for women with a master’s degree in editorial was hard to come by. As a high school teacher, I found where I belonged. Unfortunately, students are motivated by the grade they will receive and credentials to get work. Motivation is sometimes about making a fun assignment to challenge them creatively, to challenge them in terms of how to communicate what they experienced, which is what I am doing now, to get them fired up about what they just saw.”