Behind the Scenes of a New Professor’s First-Class Experience

09/17/2024
By Ed Brennen

This being her first-ever class as an assistant professor of psychology at UMass Lowell, Sarah Merrill made a point of getting to Room 160 of the Donna Manning Health & Social Sciences Building 15 minutes early.

Merrill, who joined UML this fall after five years as a postdoctoral researcher at Brown University and the University of British Columbia, plugged her laptop into the smart podium, connected to Wi-Fi, called up the Blackboard shell for the Interpersonal Relationship Dynamics course and waited for students to begin trickling in for the 3:30 class.

But by 3:27, no one had arrived.

“This can’t be right,” thought Merrill, who double-checked her syllabus and realized that, in her first-day excitement, she had gone to the wrong room. She quickly gathered her things and went next door to Room 165, where 30 juniors and seniors were getting settled.

“Well, hello, nice to meet you all,” Merrill said cheerfully after making the seamless save. “My name is Sarah Merrill, and I will be your professor for this class. Hopefully, we will have a great time learning about relationships.”

More than 3,000 first-year and transfer students are learning their way around UMass Lowell this fall. So are 32 new faculty members, Merrill among them.

“Walking onto campus for the first time, with the beautiful weather, it reminded me of being a freshman in college,” said Merrill, a native of Middletown, Rhode Island, who earned bachelor’s degrees in psychology and neuroscience from Wellesley College and a Ph.D. in developmental psychology from Cornell University.

Although she is new to campus, Merrill’s ties to the university run deep. Her grandfather, Kenneth Merrill, graduated from Lowell Textile Institute, a predecessor of UML, in 1951 and was a professor there. His father, Gilbert Merrill, was a professor at the Lowell Textile School, a predecessor of the textile institute, and wrote textbooks that can still be found in the university library.

“I’m excited to become part of the family legacy,” Merrill said from her new office at Coburn Hall, a building that is also part of that legacy. Gilbert’s mother, Lillian — Sarah’s great-great-grandmother — was a member of the Coburn family for whom the South Campus building is named.

One of the first things Merrill hung up in her office was a weaving of Southwick Hall that her late grandfather made as a senior project 75 years ago. She draped a blanket that he wove over the back of her chair. At her new home in Tyngsboro, Massachusetts, is the rocking chair that Kenneth received upon retiring as a professor.

“It’s rare you get to work in a place that you would pick, especially as a brand-new professor, but this is where I wanted to end up,” Merrill said as she prepared for her first class.

In August, Merrill attended two days of new faculty orientation, hosted by the Center for Excellence in Learning & Teaching (CELT), where she learned about student resources like the Center for Learning, Advising & Student Success, Disability Services and Information Technology.

“It was helpful to get a lay of the land and know what’s available for students,” said Merrill, who also joined the UMentor program that connects new faculty with experienced peers.

Merrill felt immediately welcomed by her new colleagues in the Psychology Department, as well. Several of them reached out to her over the summer to share course materials and teaching tips. Merrill also got to know psychology Ph.D. student Angelina Davis, her “extremely helpful” teaching assistant.

“It’s been very community-oriented and collaborative,” Merrill said. “Not all academia environments are like that; they can be more competitive. But I feel like everyone really wants me to succeed and are happy to help me.” 

To wit: As Merrill headed to her first class, she was greeted in the hallway by Psychology Department Assistant Jamie Trottier, who gave her a welcome-to-UML gift bag that included a loaf of homemade bread. 

Merrill is an expert in social epigenetics, or the ways in which the social environment can impact gene expression and biology, and she now has her own lab at UML, the Merrill Epigenetics and Psychosocial Interventions Lab. 

This isn’t Merrill’s first time in front of a class, of course. As a Ph.D. student at Cornell, she designed and instructed a course that covered epigenetics and biology — material that she used when putting together the syllabus for her Interpersonal Relationship Dynamics course at UML.

But she still felt butterflies on her way to her first class.

“Are they going to think my jokes are funny or lame?” wondered Merrill, who enjoys letting her “inner theater kid shine” when in front of students.

She likened teaching a new class to publishing her first paper.

“You’re confident in the material and the research you did, but now you have to put it together in a package that other people will read and hope they get your message,” she said.

After the first 75-minute session of Interpersonal Relationship Dynamics (which Merrill plans to rename “Love and Bonding” in future semesters), students seemed to get the message — and liked their new professor.

“She’s very upbeat,” said senior psychology major Delia Fraser, who was on the class waitlist but planned to keep attending until a spot opened up. “I liked how she didn’t just go over the syllabus on the first day, but taught us a little bit about what the class is going to be about.”

“I loved it. She was very well-prepared and presented with a clear voice,” added Nathaniel Buteau, a senior exercise science major with a minor in psychology. “I appreciate interactive professors, and I can already see that she is going to push me to engage with the material.”

As Merrill waited for students to arrive at Room 165 for the first session of the other course she is teaching this semester, Developmental Psychopathology, she gave herself a passing grade.

“I was a little nervous at the start and overly breathy,” said Merrill, who didn’t hesitate when asked what she would consider a successful first semester.

“Lots of engagement, personal interactions with the material and everyone crushing my exams.”