As an undergraduate English major in the early 1990s at the University of Rochester, Jeannine Dingus had no idea she would someday join the faculty of her alma mater. At the time, she didn’t even know she would enter the teaching field.

The Rochester native went away to school for her freshman year to study speech pathology at the University of Maryland. But when her financial aid package wasn’t enough, she decided to consider other options.

“I had to pick a new school, possibly a new major,” says Dingus. While at Maryland, she had been encouraged by a professor to consider English education. She applied and was accepted to the University of Rochester and decided to pursue English. But at the time, she wasn’t fully convinced she would ever teach.

Dingus was still considering other possibilities. “I thought, there are so many more options now for African-Americans than teaching,” she says. “But,” she explains, “I believe that sometimes you are led places because that is where you need to be.”

As Dingus pursued her studies in English, she explored the options available in the Fifth Year in Teaching Program, a financial aid program designed to encourage students of diverse backgrounds to teach in urban settings.

“The Fifth Year in Teaching Program presented a great opportunity for me,” says Dingus about the program, which provides awards for full tuition and on-campus room and board to qualifying University of Rochester undergraduates who apply for admission and are accepted at the Warner School during their senior year.

After she earned a master’s from Warner in 1994, she taught at John Marshall High School in the Rochester City School District. “It was a serious commitment,” she says. “There was something I wanted to do for these kids.”

Later, Dingus returned to schooling and pursued a Ph.D. from the University of Washington, Seattle. “I wanted to branch out and speak to the implications of what I learned as a classroom teacher.”

For her dissertation, Dingus researched the socialization practices among intergenerational African-American teaching families. She examined the roles and influences of parents who themselves were teachers, nonteaching members of families, and other African-American teachers who can play in shaping the career decisions of a child and explored the larger question: “Where do we get our ideas of teaching from?”

When Dingus accepted a position as an assistant professor of teaching and curriculum at Warner in 2003, she was intrigued by the opportunity to return to her alma mater as a professor and share her new knowledge and experiences. Now at Warner, Dingus says she speaks to her students about issues of social justice and “unpacking privilege” and developing culturally relevant teaching practices in order to meet the needs of all students.

Dingus looks forward to continuing her research and teaching courses that incorporate social issues. As one of six new tenure-track faculty hired at Warner in the past year, Dingus says Warner is a “very supportive place to be a newbie.” She and several other new faculty members have formed a small research group to brainstorm ideas and get feedback. “It is a great space to bounce ideas for articles or grants off one another,” she says.

Dingus says she has seen growth in the Warner School since her time spent here as a student. She has seen a renewed commitment to making a difference in individual lives.

“People actively speak about social justice. Warner professors are trying to live it and incorporate it into all of their courses.”

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