Faculty Spotlight: Diana Reese

Dr. Reese prefers that students refer to her as Dr. or Professor.

While Dr. Reese enjoys each of the classes she teaches, she particularly enjoys teaching organic chemistry. This class is one that requires students to really understand fundamental concepts and apply those repeatedly. It also requires a certain amount of creativity, which can be challenging for students, but is very rewarding to see students rise to the challenge.

Dr. Reese and her husband have two young boys that keep her super busy outside of work. In her spare time, she enjoys being outdoors with family, including riding scooters or bikes, hiking, or camping. When she gets time to herself, she enjoys reading books and playing the piano.

Dr. Reese is inspired every day as she watches her students. Each student faces a unique set of challenges and finds way to juggle and overcome them. She sees students balancing taking care of their young children or younger siblings, students without external financial support, students who have a hard time learning a specific topic, students struggling with mental health issues, and much more, but the fact that these students continue to persevere is incredible! The future is in good hands.

Dr. Reese’s favorite thing about teaching is when the whole class can laugh and learn together. She loves sharing something that really resonates (pun intended!) with them and connecting with them as they learn fundamental concept of chemistry together.

Dr. Reese says the best resource is always the textbook, but there have been numerous people who have been supportive and influential in her teaching. Dr. Rico Del Sesto and Dr. Katie Leigh are two that stand out. Both give great advice on how to approach difficult students or challenging teaching situations. Additionally, Rico Del Sesto has been an incredibly helpful colleague in terms of implementing new teaching methodologies and ensuring consistency between classes.

Dr. Reese grew up in a small town in Central Utah (Manti) and got her associates from Snow College. After that, she attended SUU to pursue her Bachelor’s degree and then moved up to the University of Utah for her Ph.D. She has always liked Southern Utah, especially the warmer weather in St. George, and is happy to call this home.

Dr. Reese has a very hands-on approach to teaching. She will go over something in class and
then have the class work through a practice problem together. Questions are greatly encouraged in her classroom.
She has been experimenting with homework lately, trying to find a medium for homework that students enjoy and benefit from. Students tend to differ significantly in their opinion of their preferred method of homework. While some students love online homework, others prefer book problems. At the same time, many students don’t like either and would rather find their own homework method. She didn’t think it was possible to appease everyone, until she attended a conference where Dr. Lauren DiSalvo (also at UT) shared a technique called “ungrading”. After discussing this method with others, Dr. Reese has implemented a homework journal and analysis assignment. With this method, students can choose how much and what type of homework they do. There is no penalty for their choice. The only requirement is that they do “enough of what they need”. This also helps strike the balance for some students who can do 10 minutes per day and others who may need three hours per day. They record their efforts in a notebook, and after the exam, they evaluate their exam performance in terms of the homework they did, and they assign a homework grade for themselves. The grades they assign are similar to previous homework grade distributions, and students have said that this method has helped them understand the way that they learn and take a more active role in their learning process. Students also set specific goals and are held accountable for these goals.
It’s not all about grades and homework in Dr. Reese’s classroom. She sees it as a great way of
preparing students for life after graduation. Students have been very receptive to this method of learning.

Dr. Reese’s favorite class to teach is organic chemistry because there is a huge focus on understanding. When students switch their focus from memorization to understanding, their performance dramatically increases, and they don’t have to study as much. She also enjoys showing students just how interrelated all the different topics are. In addition to that, there are unlimited applications and connections to “real life” that make the study exciting.

Dr. Reese could sum this answer up with the famous quote, “Students don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.” She remembers one class where a disruptive student created a frustrating learning environment. Both students and Dr. Reese could feel the stress that entered the classroom with that challenging student.

As stresses in the class escalated, Dr. Reese’s focus became much more on the material than on the students. She didn’t connect with them like she should have, and students stopped performing at the level that was expected.

Dr. Reese realized her students were not receptive because they didn’t feel valued in class. The next semester she made a goal to connect with her students during class in a way that they could know she cared. It has made all the difference.

Dr. Reese says the best resource is always the textbook, but there have been numerous people who have been supportive and influential in her teaching. Dr. Rico Del Sesto and Dr. Katie Leigh are two that stand out. Both give great advice on how to approach difficult students or challenging teaching situations. Additionally, Rico Del Sesto has been an incredibly helpful colleague in terms of implementing new teaching methodologies and ensuring consistency between classes.