Andrew Teton, MFT, Adjunct Faculty in the MA in Clinical Psychology program, was presented with the Excellence in Teaching Award at AUSB’s 2017 commencement ceremony.
Teton is a graduate of Antioch’s MACP program and maintains a therapy practice locally in Santa Barbara. In his award speech, Teton mentions that he has taught more than 900 Antioch students since he joined the faculty 14 years ago. Excerpts from his speech are below:
“It is a great honor to be selected for the Excellence in Teaching award. As a graduate of Antioch myself, it is a very personal honor. I made a mid-life career change, and when I investigated graduate school options for marriage and family therapist, I was delighted to find a school with a sterling reputation was right here in Santa Barbara at Antioch.
Frankly, it felt scary switching careers in my 40’s, especially into a field that required both graduate school and a long internship. I felt the education and support I received from Antioch was critical to my succeeding in this exciting new personal adventure. I greatly appreciated the range of gifted instructors I studied with at Antioch and credit them with helping me sculpt my own professional foundation.
I had hoped I would be able to give something back to Antioch and as soon as I taught my first class at Antioch 14 years ago, I not only felt it was exciting opportunity to contribute to the Antioch community, I quickly discovered I loved teaching and supporting students and teaching at Antioch is now the cornerstone of my professional life.
Having had more than 900 Antioch students in the 135 classes I have taught, I now find my former students working in the mental health field in many different ways with a wide variety of different populations. It is humbling to think I have made some small contribution to their education, and as part of Antioch I am impressed to see the significant contribution our students and former students make in our community.”
~ Andrew Teton, June 15, 2017
Watch Andrew Teton’s Commencement speech:
