Ernst Schoen-Rene

Outstanding Adviser 2001

Ernst Schoen-René, professor of English, recently retired from full-time teaching and advising, but he was well known for his enthusiasm and dedication to students. He not only listed his office hours and phone number on his office door, but also his e-mail, home telephone, and home address. He was willing to accommodate the varying needs of student advisees who had to drive hundreds of miles, call at night, or meet after hours for competency interviews.

Schoen-René advised the more than 150 English department students preparing for the Credential Program; he evaluated the 25 or more portfolios of students wishing to challenge the upper-division writing course for liberal studies majors; he talked with dozens of outside students who sought his advice on subject-matter competency in English; and he advised pre-credential candidates, using a 172-page teacher-learner’s handbook he wrote to help students prepare for the department’s subject-
matter competency interviews and for their future careers as teachers.

Lynn Elliott, chair of the Department of English, says, “Ernst assumes a tremendous responsibility for pre-credential students. Throughout, he is driven by one thought: that the educational welfare of these students creates excellent future teachers in California’s school system.” He did all of this with availability, energy, kindness, humor, and warmth. A pre-credential candidate says, “Having someone believe in you is the sweetest gift one person can give another, and Ernst Schoen-René gave that gift to me.” A graduating student says, “He has modeled for me what it means to be a committed and passionate teacher and adviser.”

Schoen-René was named Outstanding Teacher in 1984 and taught in the London Semester program in the spring of 2001