Meaningful reads is a recommended book series commemorating the promotion and tenure of faculty at the University of Washington Tacoma. Beginning with the 2017-2018 academic year, newly promoted or tenured faculty are invited to share a book with thoughts on why the book was meaningful to their career or life.

In the last week before I moved across country to Seattle for graduate school, I had the opportunity to attend a week-long music clinic led by Victor Wooten. How he taught his approach to music was inspiring. Watching others absorb his immense knowledge and apply it in their music was humbling. I am not a good musician and haven’t dedicated the time needed to be one, but Victor’s approach to teaching has stuck with me ever since. This book is a fictional account of a driven, but “stuck”, music student’s interactions with a teacher. It reminds me to always reexamine (from many different “angles”) the approaches I take to help my students learn.

Jack Vincent, Ph.D.
School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences
Science and Math Division
Promoted to Senior Lecturer, Spring 2018