Neiles feels that his studies have exposed him to more teaching styles and given him a greater confidence in his teaching. Additionally, studying in college again reminded him of the challenges students face.

Eight years of studying has brought Dr. Tom Neiles to the finish line of his doctorate in French with German as a second language focus.

Neiles, a professor for Covenant’s language department since 2000, started working on his doctorate at Middlebury College in Vermont in 2003. He completed the doctorate this past summer.

Neiles made the decision to pursue his doctorate in hopes of establishing a French major at Covenant. When he first began teaching at Covenant, both French and German were only offered as minors, due to the fact that no faculty members held doctorates in either of those fields. But a major may not exist if it doesn’t have a teacher holding a doctorate in the field.

Even though Dr. Sandy Shaw was able to join the Covenant faculty in 2007 and start the French major, Neiles had already devoted several years to the doctorate program and decided to finish what he had started. With his doctorate, Neiles is hoping to start offering a German major for next year.

He said he was humbled by the opportunity to attend Middlebury. “It’s kind of like a mecca for foreign language teaching,” he said. From 2003 to 2007, Neiles dove into the challenging coursework. In 2007, he wrapped up his comprehensive exams.