Cheryl Wachenheim cares about her students and works hard to make sure they know it.
“At NDSU, teaching is truly a student-centered activity,” said Wachenheim, who teaches a variety of courses, including economics, agricultural sales, agricultural finance, agricultural marketing and strategic marketing and management.
“I care about our students as individuals and I care about those who employ and otherwise work with them upon graduation. This motivates me to do my best to ensure they understand the tools of our trade and have had the opportunity to employ them in an experiential format. Whenever possible, I involve those in industry with whom our students will work in providing feedback.”
Wachenheim enhances the learning experience for her students in a number of ways. She uses experiential learning and a lot of mini-problems and case studies throughout her lectures. Students work in teams to solve problems and, whenever possible, she introduces competition into the classroom.
“As a teacher, I have the opportunity to help students discover new ideas about the world and about themselves,” Wachenheim said. “I personally am very proud of my students and am excited to watch them grow in their lives. Teachers get to extend this to hundreds of others and it’s truly a blessing.”
Wachenheim joined the NDSU faculty in 1998. She earned her undergraduate degree in animal sciences from the University of Minnesota. She earned master’s and doctorate degrees in agricultural economics and an MBA from Michigan State University.