Regis Jesuit alumn, Girls Division history teacher, and head of the social studies department, Mr. Bauer, is a former English teacher who had a wandering eye for American history and chose to jump on the opportunity to teach it. In this week’s edition of “Teacher Tuesday,” I sat down with the man himself to learn more about how he got to where he is now and why he loves his job.

Why history and government? How did you end up discovering your love for it?
Mr. Bauer: I started out as an English teacher from ’94 to ’03, and I was always interested in the context of the literature and always tried to spend a good amount of time contextualizng literary trends and dramas. I went back and got a my masters degree in 2003, an American Studies degree, which is a hodgepodge of different disiplines, such as American history, American literature, photography, and all other kinds of things. Then when I decided to go back to teaching, the job that they had open here was a history position. About six or 7 years ago, the government position just opened up, so when they needed a teacher to fill in, I started teaching it and fell in love with it. Four years ago I decided to expand our AP government curriculum to include comparative government.

Why did you decide to go into teaching and how did you end up at Regis Jesuit?
Mr. Bauer: I had thought about being a teacher when I was a student here at Regis. I had a couple of teachers that I found really impactful. They were thoughtful, very bright, and very committed. I think that’s the thing that got me. In college I didn’t really think about teaching until I graduated and did the A.S.C. program because I was looking for something to tie me over until I came to a different understanding of who I was and who I wanted to be. Once I was in A.S.C. and was teaching, I realized that that was what I wanted to do, so the next year I got hired here (1994).

If you could have had any other career or done anything else, what would it have been?
Mr. Bauer: When I was getting my masters’ degree in Washington D.C. and I wasn’t working, I did a couple of internships with the Smithsonian and I worked in their photographic history department. I worked there for about a year and a half, and that is the career I would have: work in the museum and work with artifacts. I love the idea of encapsulating history and I’m fascinated by the idea of memory and how we institutionalize our memory and let it operate in our daily lives, then use memory to forecast where we’re going to be. Museums for me are places of memory and how we reimagine and store our memories.

What is your favorite way to spend your free time outside of Regis?
Mr. Bauer: Two things: I love to ski and snowboard more than anything as an activity, and I love hanging out with my kids. Then when I get to put those things together and our family goes skiing together, it’s even better.