Sean Whelan, PhD

Sean Whelan, PhD, a full-time rhetoric and composition instructor at Central Ohio Technical College’s (COTC) Pataskala campus, has been involved in academia his whole life. His father was a teacher at a four-year university and his mother was a dance teacher at Knox County Schools. “Of course, I wanted to be anything other than what my parents were,” Whelan joked. “But I love teaching.”

Whelan originally pursued geology but switched to rhetoric and composition in his undergraduate program. He later received his MA in English literature with a focus on classical rhetoric and a PhD in rhetoric and composition. He got his first taste for the classroom after his MA program, teaching as an adjunct professor at a community college in Oregon. “It was a really great experience.”

During his doctorate program, Whelan taught part time at a four-year public university, and later as a full-time adjunct professor, before coming to COTC in 2021. “I think a two-year college provides a unique learning environment that you don’t often get at a four-year institution,” Whelan stated. “I get to see the effect of what I refer to as ‘boots on the ground’ teaching. People are here to be the best they can be at what they do. We need people who engage with and establish roots in the community.”

COTC has a unique blend of traditional, adult and College Credit Plus (CCP) students — something Whelan also appreciates. “These students are motivated and interested in what’s going on. I love having adult students mixed with college-aged students because they can help motivate each other and put things into perspective.”

Whelan enjoys teaching composition to students enrolled in primarily technical programs. “It’s important to make them understand that they’re already writers and that their professions will require them to be able to express themselves well if they want to succeed,” he explained. “My greatest joy is showing them that what I’m teaching is relevant to their profession, and watching them go from, ‘I have to do this and I don’t want to,’ to, ‘I have to do this and I don’t want to, but I need this for my career.’ It motivates them a lot.”

Whelan teaches primarily at the Pataskala campus, where he values the vast cultural, ethnic and overall diversity of students in his classroom. “The array of experiences adds a level of texture to the classroom that I think is beneficial to every student,” he enthused. “The mixing of cultures, of expectations and of shared experiences makes Pataskala a true melting pot, and that’s why I like it as much as I do.”

For Whelan, the most impactful part of his job is the students. “I’m here to help them be successful, and that’s the only thing I care about,” he said. “I get to feel like a person to them, instead of some monolithic educational edifice. I get to feel real to my students. It doesn’t feel so much like teaching at Pataskala as it does getting to show a group of people something cool and that they’re interested in.”

During the summer, Whelan works on scholarly research and presentations on topics including rhetoric in the professions, the instructor experience with generative AI and teaching trauma writing through video games. He’s presented at several conferences, including this summer at the Computers and Writing Conference, as well as the Rhetoric Society of America Conference and the Conference on College Composition and Communication. Whelan spends his free time with his family, goes running and plays video games — especially for furthering his scholarship.

Whelan’s best advice for students is to talk to their teachers. “If you need something, let them know ahead of time. Be open, be honest, be direct — don’t give them a reason to think you’re trying to game the system,” he said. “If you can’t get something done or you just didn’t do it, don’t make something up; just be honest about it.”

This need for communication goes both ways for Whelan. “Our biggest hurdle as teachers is to get the students to see us as approachable. We need to take into account that everyone’s tolerance levels are different,” he stated. “Getting our students to ascribe value to what we’re teaching them is the only thing that should matter. We need to be more creative in how we connect with our students, to look at each of them individually and say, ‘Okay, what does this student need?’ If we’re not serving the community, then what are we doing?”