Professor of the week: Judy Cuff-Alvarado
“I didn’t know I was going to become a teacher,” said biology and human anatomy and physiology instructor Judy Cuff-Alvarado. “I come from a family of teachers. However, I didn’t want to be a teacher.”
A New York native, Cuff-Alvarado began her college career at Ithaca College, a private college in upstate New York. In 1984, Cuff-Alvarado graduated from Ithaca College with a bachelor’s degree in physical therapy and a minor in Spanish. Shortly after graduating, Cuff-Alvarado began working as a physical therapist in Harlem, New York while also treating inmates at Riker’s Island, a large island-jail outside of New York City.
While working at New York University hospital, Cuff-Alvarado received a Masters degree from Long Island University in motor control, a specialized area of physical therapy in 1989. During the summer of 1989, Cuff-Alvarado moved to California and continued practicing physical therapy. “It was really a jolt,” Cuff-Alvarado said. “[California] is a very different culture.”
Cuff-Alvarado first heard about the physical therapy aid (PTA) program at De Anza from her friends while at the De Anza Flee Market. The PTA program had openings, and Cuff-Alvarado was hired and began teaching in September of 1996. After teaching for nine years in the PTA program at De Anza the economy shifted and the PTA program was closed in June of 2005, said Cuff-Alvarado.
In September of 2005, Cuff-Alvarado adapted to the shifting economy and began teaching general biology and anatomy and physiology. “I would never have predicted that was going to happen,” Cuff-Alvarado said. “But I kept adapting.”
After over a decade of teaching at De Anza, Cuff-Alvarado says she replaces the reward she would get from treating patients with her students. “I feel an obligation to reach out and help others,” said Cuff-Alvarado.
In the classroom, Cuff-Alvarado has only three rules: learn, help others learn and have fun. In addition, Cuff-Alvarado splits up her students into small groups or “families” as she called them. The purpose of the families is to set up students with a network of people to work with and support. “My goal is to have zero attrition,” said Cuff-Alvarado.
Knowing that she’s helping students get to a greater place or become a greater person is the most rewarding part about teaching, Cuff-Alvarado said. “We are all trying to find our own niche.”
If you surrounding yourself with positive people, acknowledge the problems in front of you and continue to persist, you will overcome your obstacles, Cuff-Alvarado said. “It’s kind of like what all organisms do in biology. There just trying to make their way.”