Courtesy of David Faucheu
In the recent 2014 to 2015 academic year, marketing instructor David Faucheux ranked second in the nation on the popular website ratemyprofessors.com.
According to the website, 1.4 million professors from over 7,000 schools are evaluated by the online platform. Because of such broad and diverse competition, Faucheux’s placement was a major accomplishment.
His ranking can be attributed to several factors, including his teaching methods. Despite Faucheux’s high placement, he remains a picture of humility, giving a large portion of credit to others.
“When you think it’s 1.7 million professors and 7,000 universities,” said Faucheux. “When I saw that rating, it wasn’t about me. It’s about Southeastern. I’d also like to add that it’s about my students. They’re the reason why I smile every day. They’re the reason I’m motivated, enthusiastic. They convince me to go to class.”
Faucheux draws most of his teaching style from the 1989 film “Dead Poets Society.” His methods are modeled strongly after those of John Keating, and one of Faucheux’s main goals is making students believe in themselves. Faucheux has every student create what he calls a “Book Of Possibilities.” The book is a project students create over the course of a semester. It contains answers to commonly asked job interview questions, interesting facts about the students, pictures of the students, what their dreams are and articles students gathered during the class. Faucheux designed the project to set his students apart from other applicants during job interviews.
“Most people walk into a job interview with a résumé, a little slip of paper,” said Faucheux. “They’re comfortable with that slip of paper, but I want my students to have more. I want them to have this big book of possibilities. The employer will see it on the desk and become curious. When the employers look at the book, they see that the applicant in front of them has dreams and a plan to achieve them. It makes them a lot more attractive than if they brought only a résumé.”
Faucheux’s project and ranking are not the only things interesting about him. He places a huge value on attending class. According to Faucheux, he has taught around 865 class periods over the course of his teaching career at the university.
Of the scheduled classes, he only missed one. This is because on the previous class day, a crown had fallen out of his mouth. Because of a dental emergency, Faucheux was unable to teach class, breaking his streak of perfect attendance. Faucheux also places a high value on student attendance.
“My students managed to score well on an assessment, but more importanly, over 600 students had perfect attendance,” Faucheux said. “If students are motivated to come to class, then they’re motivated to learn.”
Faucheux also has a unique enthusiasm for teaching, and simply talking to others interested in his career as a marketing professor. He explained that he wanted to teach for some time but was unable until very recently. Faucheux always dreamt of teaching at the university rather than anywhere else and now lives that dream.
“You may have noticed I’m very passionate,” Faucheux said. “I’m not by nature. That’s simply the joy of teaching. It’s the joy of doing what I always wanted to do.”
Faucheux received his bachelor degree in business administration in 1982, and achieved an MBA in 1984. He went on to have a long career in marketing before finally returning to the university to teach.
In his teaching career, Faucheux is a Southeastern alumnus with a gift for connecting with students. It is easy to understand why his students love him, and why he received such a prestigious ranking on RateMyProfessor. For a more in-depth experience with Mr. Faucheux’s methods, students should enroll in his class.