Mike Tate, MA

Highlights of work experience:
I spent six years teaching high school math before making the leap to higher education. During my time with the Office of Academic Advising, I developed a web tool that was used campus-wide to make the transition from LAC to UNIFI easier on everyone.

What drove your interest in advising? 
As a teacher, I loved mentoring and guiding students. I feel that academic advising is the natural evolution of that. I am still using all of the tools and skills that I developed as a teacher, but am now focused on life and academic skills instead of math.

What attracted you to UNI and the College of Education?
I fell in love with the Cedar Valley and UNI. It's such a great campus and such a great area, that even though I am still fairly new to Iowa, I can't imagine living anywhere else. The College of Education in particular offered a particularly welcoming atmosphere and I just knew that I had to work with these wonderful people.

What are your areas of expertise? 
My area of expertise as a teacher was statistics, which still comes in quite handy. I am also a wizard with spreadsheets.

Describe an experience that reinforced why you enjoy what you do.  
During my first internship, I had a student in academic peril come to me for help. I guided them, provided them with the support that they needed, and they finished the semester with a B+ average.

What is your teaching philosophy?
Every student is capable of great things, they just need varying levels of support to reach those heights.

Mike works with recreation, tourism and nonprofit leadership majors and 2+2 and Purple Pathway for Paraeducators elementary education programs.