Easthampton resident receives STCC’s Faculty of the Year award

Dec. 21, 2020 | Angelica J. Core
angelica@thereminder.com

Denise “Daisy” Flaim was honored with STCC’s Faculty of the Year award.
Reminder Publishing submitted photo

EASTHAMPTON – Springfield Technical Community College (STCC) English professor and Easthampton resident, Denise “Daisy” Flaim recently received the college’s Faculty of the Year award.

Flaim, a resident of Easthampton, told Reminder Publishing she felt gratified after receiving the award. “I worry a lot about whether I am doing well enough,” she said.

She shared that the day she received it, her husband, Tom Klitus, asked her if she will stop worrying and she responded, “Maybe for today.”

“This is not my first, or even my second, career, but it's the first career where it deeply matters whether I do what I do well or poorly. It gives me great joy when I can help, and it haunts me when I fail. It sounds dramatic, I know, but the stakes are really high for most of our students,” Flaim shared.

Eight years ago, Flaim started as an adjunct professor at STCC and instantly said she could not wait for the day a full-time position opened up at the college.

“I had taught at a few places by then and had loved teaching, but the feeling at STCC was different. This will sound crazy, but it was like a key fitting in a lock from day one,” she said.

In 2008, after waiting four years for a position to become available, Flaim was hired as an English professor and she said it felt like she had come home and won the lottery all at once.

“Each little part of permanence meant so much to me, my own office, my name on the signs. As I say this, I know there are adjuncts who waited or are waiting much more than four years. People make a lot of sacrifices in the hopes of a tenure-track job,” Flaim said.

Flaim explained she feels it is important to connect to her students inside and outside of the classroom for four reasons.

First, she believes students learn better; second, she thinks it helps the student feel more at home in the college environment; third, it lets her understand what students need individually or as a group; and fourth, she enjoys spending time with her students.

“Making the connections is pretty easy in a writing class. When they write for me, if I respond at all with warmth, the connection is there. I also usually require one fifteen-minute conference per paper. Once somebody has been to your door once, it is not so hard to knock again,” she shared.

When asked what has been her favorite part of teaching these past 12 years, Flaim said if she says “students” [are her favorite part] again, someone will roll their eyes, She shared her second favorite part which is the pure fun of a literature discussion.

As a young girl, in her home state of Pennsylvania, she would sneak off to the library and read British literature in a tree. “It was a thing I had to keep to myself.”

When Flaim attended her first college literature class, she said there was a woman at the front of the room who really drew in the class. She recalled that the woman had the class spell-bound for an hour.

“I knew right then and what I wanted to be. I changed my major the same day. It took me years to get up the courage to try to be the woman at the front of the room, but once I had seen her, that was all I wanted from my life – to be the woman who made literature cool and fun and something to be shared, not some quiet shame,” Flaim shared.

Flaim shared that this semester has been tough because of the pandemic and teaching remotely. She said she is not a fan of technology, and she gets her energy from interactions with students and fun in the classroom.  It has also been tough for Flaim to make those connections with students.

“COVID has us burrowing in our separate spaces. I will be spending the break trying to figure out a magic potion for getting everyone out of those burrows,” she said.

She also admitted, “This fall, I really felt that lack, and I was really overwhelmed. I think I did a pretty poor job in the first half of the semester. I could not sleep, for thinking about it at one point and then at the advice of a colleague, I gave as thorough an apology as I could by video, and separately, just recommitted.”

Jenary Merced, a former student of Flaim’s said she is one of her favorite professors. She shared that it was abnormal for a white teacher to give her all into a Black and Latina student like herself but Flaim made it feel normal.

Before Merced took her class, other students told her not to, because they felt it would be too hard. She admitted that she is a hard teacher but she learned that Flaim is tough on her students because she believes they can, it is not to add barriers. She shared that Flaim put her on a path of success and had herself reflecting at 22 and 23 years old. Merced said it was hard having to self-reflect at those ages because she already had children, was a single parent and had a history of domestic violence.

Merced explained that people coming from the Springfield community tend to think it is negative when people challenge them or are tough on them. “Even I felt that way but I had to learn that it was not. It took a lot. She is in tune with social and emotional cues, she is in tune with the community she works for.”

Merced said Flaim gave her confidence to continue her education. As of Dec. 18, Merced officially earned her master’s degree in Education. She shared that Flaim was the first person she called to tell her that she finished.

Richard Greco, dean of liberal and professional studies, shared that he is thrilled that Flaim won this award. “Daisy is quiet and attempts to draw as little attention to herself as possible. She is a worker and true champion for the STCC student and does not look for the spotlight in her work.”

Greco said that Flaim cares about each person that walks into her class as a human. “She is able to find wealth in the experiences of her students and helps them translate that into skills in the classroom. This takes time.”

Greco recalled observing a class where Flaim introduced a poem that describes the writer's journey as a refugee. He recalled that students felt comfortable and began sharing their experiences.

“One particular student spoke of her journey and I could not help but notice that over half of the class was tearing up and everyone in the class was on the edge of their seats,” he said.

Greco described Flaim as a “gem.” He said that she works hard on the college’s curriculum committee to ensure that the curriculum in front of the students is the best that the school can offer. He added that she supports students and encourages them to expand their horizons by attending speaker series, gallery installations, and theater productions.

“To be honest, she is a nice person. It is rare to find the genuine pleasant attitude that Daisy has in such a fierce advocate for the rights of the marginalized,” Greco shared.

Share this: