I have no idea how it's possible, but this morning, at eight o'clock, I began my 21st year of teaching at the University of Texas at Arlington. Twenty years ago almost to the day, I taught my first course at UTA, having moved to the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex a couple of weeks earlier (from College Station). My upper-level course that semester (fall 1989) was Philosophy of Religion. You guessed it: I'm teaching Philosophy of Religion (PHIL 3316) this fall. Déjà vu! I love teaching this course. I have used different textbooks over the years, but have come back this semester to the latest edition of the one I used 20 years ago. My other courses this semester are Logic (PHIL 2311) and Seminar in Research Methods and Philosophical Writing (PHIL 3307).
I have 41 students in my Logic course, 40 in my Philosophy of Religion course, and 28 in my Seminar, for a total (as of today) of 109. One of the things I like about UTA is that I don't have to teach in large lecture halls, with up to 100 students in a given class. I like to get to know my students by name and to have interesting and lively classroom discussions. This is impossible in classes with more than 40 students. Here's to a great semester! I'll let you know at the end of the semester whether God exists. We should have it figured out by then.
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 