Mariah Foley
Staff Writer

“Students can only be successful in an environment where they can feel like it worthwhile to tolerate the discomfort associated with learning. Learning can be very uncomfortable. They have to trust that what they’re doing is in their best interest.”

Les Ulrich is a professor at Pierce College that teaches math, physics, and physical science.

When asked about his life story, Ulrich says, “I’ve worked for the government, I’ve been a researcher, and I’ve worked in industry. … [When] I started teaching part time; I found that I was very attracted to it because I used to be a struggling student. It didn’t come easy for me. I dropped out in the tenth grade, and ended up taking the GED test, then I was in the military, I got my G.I. bill, and I worked my way up through a very difficult path, to eventually getting a degree.

“It was never easy for me, but having gone through it the hard way, I think I have a little more insight than maybe most people about how to help struggling students. … When I see them struggling, I think I can understand where they are.”

Ulrich believes that he can make a big difference at Pierce, and he does his best to create a curriculum that will balance the challenges students have to face, along with academics they must learn. Ulrich takes students input, refers his students to the tutoring center, and spends time getting to know his students.

This professor has a strange way that he gives out tests. He makes the test almost impossible, even for those who are up-to-pace in his class. After everyone has completed the test, he looks at the curve, and the highest scoring person gets 100%. Instead of making an easy test that everyone will know all the questions to, Ulrich encourages his students to “get ahead of him” in the curriculum.

This helps him test accurately to what his students are learning. “I want the test to be challenging, because I think it’s in the students best interest. Everything has to follow back on the prime directive, the prime directive meaning it must be everything that I do here must be in the students best interest, or its out.”

Ulrich connects with his students on a very personal level. When referring to his students, he says, “I actually get into their life, I’ll sit down with them and talk about the same kind of problems I had to deal with, like money, time, family, job, transportation, all this things that students have to deal with, I’m there to try to help them.”

Ulrich not only gets into his students lives, he invests his life in them also. He shares his philosophy on preparation, “I enjoy outdoor activities, especially those that require training and expertise. In some cases, my life depends on the ability to handle adverse environments. … I compare that to an academic environment, which is the same thing. Well, you won’t die, but you could fail if you’re not adequately prepared.”

Favorite class to teach: Physical science

Loves: Friends, physics

Hates: Commercial television “with a passion”

Hobbies: Outdoor activities, keeping up in science and technology discoveries

Watches: Documentaries, Nova and some things on discovery channel