"I am a herder of cats," Ransom says. "The TFs will come to me, and I go to the professor. It seems to work real well."
Dearborn agrees.
"My job is to be a conduit for information and ideas," he says.
Ransom says his good working relationship with the course's other teaching staff allow him to exude the high level of enthusiasm necessary to excite students with varied interests in his science Core class.
"This is an interesting subject, and we are all very excited to start teaching it," he says. "Among the TFs, the excitement is infectuous."
Many are also happy to put the hassels of shopping period behind them, and delve into the material.
With the intense level of preparation and administration that go into courses before the start of the semester, head TFs say they are ready to begin the more enjoyable component of their job--the course instruction.