Macon State College MVPs is a web feature that profiles notable students, alumni, faculty and staff.
Dr. Thomas Sawicki received the 2012 faculty award for Outstanding Teaching.
Full Name: Thomas R. Sawicki.
Residence: Macon.
Originally From: Rockville, Conn.
Family: Wife, Kristin Sawicki; son, Beau, 3.
Job Title: Assistant Professor of Biology.
Degrees: Doctor of Philosophy Ph.D., Ecological Sciences, Old Dominion University.
Year he joined the Macon State faculty: 2009.
Some of his teaching career highlights are … “I am very proud of my teaching accomplishments. I won a teaching award at my previous institution, in addition to the one I just won at Macon State. I am now focusing on my research. I have secured enough grant funding to begin, working in conjunction with Dr. Donna Balding, an undergraduate research program. This has been a monumental task. I am encouraged with our progress to date, and I am excited for the results to come.”
He enjoys teaching at Macon State College because … "We have a beautiful campus, great colleagues who are supportive, encouraging and engaged, and students who, by their actions and their stories, makes you want to work your hardest to help them succeed.”
His favorite course to teach is … “Biology 2107 and 2108, Principles of Biology I and II. These are the introductory series of biology courses for students embarking in their careers as biologists. I enjoy the process of laying the foundation upon which these students will build the rest of their professional lives - what a privilege!”
One thing people don’t know about Macon State is … “Perhaps the community at large is not quite aware of the quality of the scholars we employ, and the quality of the instruction and mentoring.”
One thing people don’t know about him is … “When I was 12, my uncle and I swam across Lake Champlain, about a two-mile swim.”
In his spare time he likes to … “Play with my son.”
The one person he’d most like to meet is … “Leonardo da Vinci. The word ‘genius’ is tossed around much too casually in the modern lexicon; however, by any measure, da Vinci was a genius. In my opinion he was perhaps the smartest human being to have ever lived. Each of us is trapped within an infinitesimal sliver of the continuum that we perceive as time. I have often heard people discussing (bemoaning) the fact that they were born in the wrong time. It is a curious thought. I would imagine that da Vinci, living at a time when Europe was stirring from the long sleep of the Dark Ages, must have felt himself trapped. I can only imagine his frustration and loneliness. With whom does the Renaissance man discuss paleontology, anatomy, engineering or art in a world filled with individuals living in superstition and fear? What a wonderful thing it would be to be able to share the wonders of the world we know today, with the man who first envisaged their possibilities.”
If he wasn’t a college professor he would be … “I am a scientist who teaches. One of the greatest aspects of this career is that we scientists, and teachers, are paid to learn and explore. I do not know what else I would be if I was not a college professor, but one thing I know is that whatever I would be doing, it would allow me to learn about and explore our world, while my sliver of time lasts.”