Darla Andersen

Darla Andersen is the program director of arts, letters and sciences for Brooks Institute. Her job is to oversee the general education classes, makes sure all of the classes are filled and that the teachers are competent in their teaching skills. Darla’s job also includes administrative aspects, which include accreditations and evaluations of the school as well as making sure students’ schedules get taken care of. Darla has been teaching at the college and graduate level for 17 years and has been doing that full-time for 5 years after she decided to quit her day job all together.

While Darla was a part-time teacher, she was a full-time lawyer, which was her first passion. After realizing that problem solving was her forte, she felt she could incorporate that aspect into her teaching job. The opportunity to make a difference in people’s lives, especially college students was the deal breaker for her to pursue teaching and also become a program director full-time. Darla loves every aspect of her job, even the parts where there may be disagreements with other people. The fact that she works with people that she feels are amazing makes her job exciting.

Darla feels that everyday she learns something new and each day is a different day. That is what keeps her motivated to continue what her career. One misconception that Darla believes teaching gets is that a lot of people think they can decide to teach just for fun after they retire. When she hears that, to her it’s like saying, “After I retire, I’m going to become a brain surgeon.” Teaching is not a career that someone can just jump into for the fun of it. Having explored different options before settling on teaching full-time has given Darla the opportunity to rediscover herself and has gained so much personal growth that, which in and of itself is the greatest reward.