By: Anna Carpenter
Opinion Editor
Dr. Jacob Wobig, the new chair of the Department of Political Science at Wingate University, is notorious for having some of the toughest courses in political science. With his dense reading assignments, seminar-style classes, and long exams, many students register for his courses begrudgingly and with anticipatory anxiety.
However, after just one semester of a class with Dr. Wobig, the majority of students completely change their mindset and come to appreciate his rigorous teaching style.
For Dr. Wobig, this is all intentional. Born and raised in a small town in Nebraska, he
attended the University of Nebraska and graduated with a degree in international relations. He entered college unsure of what he wanted to study but in an introductory level political science course, he was introduced to the Hegemonic Transition Theory which, according to him, was “far more important than anything else I’ve ever heard of.”
Now, he incorporates that theory into as many of his classes as possible in hopes of inspiring other students to find their way into politics just as he did. After graduating, he decided to go to law school at the University of Iowa. He did this not
because he wanted to be a lawyer but because he was unsure of what his next step in life would be and figured a law degree would open doors for him in his future career.
However, he came to find that law school was much more rigorous than anything he had ever experienced before in his life. He was not prepared for the grueling hours of studying every night and the intensity of the classes and ended up losing his full-ride scholarship after his first semester.
While he did graduate with his law degree, he had to take out many student loans, a price that he is still paying to this day. After graduating and serving as an attorney for a few years, he realized that he would be much happier working as a professor. He went back to school to get his Ph.D. from Western Colorado University and, after teaching there for a couple years, he came here to Wingate.
He reflects on this situation now, saying “When I was in undergrad, I graduated with a high grade point average in no small part because I had teachers that didn’t demand that much of me and I came out of college thinking I was much better than I really was so when I got to a place where I had to perform at a really high level, I was not prepared. I thought [my undergrad] teachers were being good to me when really, they were really doing me a disservice.”
That experience shaped who he is as a professor. He makes his teaching decisions based on how he felt when he received the letter revoking his scholarship. Although he would love to be the professor that is solely caring and nurturing to students, he knows that it is his job to prepare students for the real world.
He believes that, unless he pushes students out of their academic comfort zones, they will not grow. His goal is to “create authentic challenges that will cause students to grow.”
While the thought of a tough professor who does not allow students to take shortcuts can seem intimidating at first, both Dr. Wobig and his students know that it is for the best.
One of his students, Gabby DeSimone, reflects on the many classes she’s had with Dr. Wobig, saying “When he can see that we’re beginning to approach the correct answer to questions posed in class, he challenges us to get there ourselves by inquiring further. This approach to teaching was intimidating to me at first and still can be at times but has pushed me to think more critically about academic questions and taught me that I am capable of reaching the conclusion on my own.”
“Dr. Wobig is an outstanding professor who cares for his students and our learning environment. He’s not afraid to push us to our perceived limits to help us achieve even greater academic success.”
Another student, Brooklyn Vereen, echoes DeSimone’s statement, saying “Dr. Wobig has challenged my mindset and renewed my thinking as a political science student and [as a] person. Through his dedicated teaching, I have been able to articulate more than I ever had thought I’d be capable of.”
When told how impactful he has been for so many students at Wingate, Dr. Wobig
responded saying “Not every student wants to have a teacher like me. For the students who understand what I’m doing, there are lots of cases where I’ve seen this approach work and lead to long exciting outcomes for people.”
By holding his students to high standards in his academically rigorous classes, he shows that he truly cares about the success of students. For many, he has succeeded in being the professor that students come to love as they recognize the
benefits of having him as a professor.
Next semester, he will be teaching Introduction to Political Science (PSCI 101),
International Relations (PSCI 308), Causes of Terrorism (PSCI 330), and Contemporary International Issues (HIST 308).
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