An Interview with Professor Cristina M. Kiss

by Cynthia Nwaiwu

It was a delight spending time with an economics as well as ESL professor who also has the capability of occupying the position of a course advisor. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that professor Kiss is very energetic and has the high teaching qualities because she happens to teach in another school outside McDaniel College. Kind-hearted and strict she would describe herself, and it seems there are a whole lot of interesting things we don’t know about her. What else could she possibly tell us? Let’s see!
M: Please, kindly give a brief description of yourself
CMK: I come from the sunny side of the world, the Philippines. I got my undergraduate degree in economics, magna cum laude, from the University of the Philippines, where I also did my graduate studies in economics. After short stints at a research institute and a private bank, I joined the Department of Economic Research of the Central Bank of the Philippines. The pivotal point in my life was when I attended an IMF training course in Washington, D.C. An economist from Hungary also happened to be there, and he could somehow later convince me to change my surname and make Hungary my home.
In terms of character, I’d say that I’m both outgoing and reflective. I like being with people but I also love silence and reflection. I believe in always trying to do one’s best: seize the day, bloom where you are planted.
M: What is it like to teach three courses and still be a course advisor?
CMK: I guess all these tasks and roles call for a desire to help the students develop their potential, and make choices compatible with their goals. And I do care about the students, so it all just flows from there
M: Can you say that upon waking up in the morning, you have a great desire to get into the classroom? Has teaching been that fulfilling in your life? CMK: Well, I am indeed very passionate about teaching. I find it a very rewarding job. But equations, graphs or neologisms are not exactly the first things that I think about when I wake up in the morning. Maybe, after a good cup of coffee. (Laughs).
M: What do you do to motivate your students to study and get really involved in your course work?
CMK: First of all, I believe that every student is different, that every student has potential, and it is the teacher’s job to unlock that potential, to draw out that capability to do better. That’s what education means: educate, to draw, lead out. And to be able to do that, the teacher has to create the proper environment, to provide the right inputs – in just the right measure, to encourage, to challenge. I do give a lot of thought to each lesson. I try to anticipate when the students might need to understand the concepts better, to analyze, and work them out on their own. I also encourage questions. Overall, the twin recipes of rigor and kindness seem to have produced quite good results.
M: How do you think higher education has changed since you have been teaching? Why do you think it has changed?
CMK: I’ve not really been teaching for that long to discern any major changes in higher education here. But I’d say, and this about education in general, an important ongoing change would be the ever-increasing availability of online resources, which I consider to be both a boon and a bane. A boon because the internet has really opened up a whole new world of learning opportunities for students, and teachers as well. A bane because the deluge of ‘data-on-demand’ can also somehow drown concentration, conscientiousness and creativity.
M: Hypothetically, if you could travel in time to teach - long ago, or the recent past, or the future - which of them would you choose? Why this choice?
CMK: I would love to go back the time of Socrates, the age of bare-knuckled quest for truth and enlightenment. But then, I would most certainly, and happily, be a student rather than a teacher. (Smiles)
M: Besides being an excellent professor, what else do you consider yourself to be an expert at, moderately good at, a total mess at?
CMK: Thanks. People say I’m quite good at organizing. I like looking at the big picture, as well as ironing out the details, and then putting everything together. It seems I had the knack for this early on. As a high school sophomore, I organized a field trip for the entire bunch. I guess I’m moderately good at cooking, and decidedly miserable at winter sports. Nem olyan szeretem a hideget! (Laughs)
M: During your vacations, do you completely put away the books and take a breathing space from the whole education business?
CMK: Well, I normally don’t fill my valise with Macro, Micro or TOEFL textbooks. (Laughs) But I do make sure there’s a book or two in my traveling bag – historical, inspirational or fiction plus the latest issue of The Economist. So it may be said that I don’t leave teaching-related stuff behind altogether when I go on holiday. Education is an ongoing process, for teachers too.
M: How do you think your career as being a college professor has/will influence(d) your children educationally.
CMK: I guess every new mother becomes, or is re-born as, a teacher. So, my profession wouldn’t change the equation that much, I think, when the time comes. My Mom isn’t a teacher by profession, but how she has taught us about life!