Meet Professor Gill: Your New Favorite Teacher

It’s another rare cloudy day at California Lutheran where the sun isn’t so inherently blinding when students stumble out of their classes. It’s fall now, so a majority of students already are lining up once again to grab their lattes and hot drinks from the on campus Starbucks. Sitting outside on the patio is Professor Gill, who tells me “ I’m not hard to find here on campus… I’m probably the only guy you’ll see wearing a turban.”Coming from a background very unfamiliar from most people born and raised in America, Gill has experienced quite the unique “American Dream” here in the states.

“My parents worked tirelessly as I was a child to make sure I had the best opportunities.”

Gill and his family first moved to America from India when he was very young for a better opportunities. He told me that at times his father worked three jobs at once, where he would work two in the day then go into another for a night shift. His mother also followed in the footsteps of a hard work ethic working two jobs at a time to provide for the family. It is the persistent work ethic both of his parents portrayed that has pushed him to work hard every day until he reaches all of his goals. While he is a professor here at California Lutheran University, his father had different intentions for his son while he was attending school. “He asked me countlessly why I hadn’t decided to just study engineering.” For Gill he saw education as more than an opportunity to find success, but as a tool to help the world grow and manifest itself positively. This is most likely why here at Cal Lutheran, Professor Gill decided to teach religion courses to help students form better opinions on what other religions exist in the world.

“I grew up raised in the religion of Sikhism which most people have never even heard of or considered. Most people see me and because of my turban automatically think it's of Muslim or Islamic beliefs, which isn’t the case at all.”

Gill says growing up as a “brown boy” in America has always presented many difficulties and ignorance from people throughout his life. His turn to teaching about religion was due to the varying injustices and ignorance he saw so rampant in the world. By teaching he feels like he is giving students the opportunity to actually learn and experience cultures and views that are not familiar with, without preaching his own ideals onto their preconceived notions. His teaching approach comes from a place of “bias perspective” to help students dilute their ignorance, but Gill says he, “can’t tell them what to think when the course ends.”

One prominent student is his classes, Dua, who has traveled all the way from Pakistan, has found a sense of belonging and understanding within Professor Gill’s classroom.

“Coming from a place most American students don’t know of or understand was something I was very afraid of,” says Dua. “In Professor Gill’s classroom [however], I am able to discuss my Muslim beliefs without any discrimination or fear whatsoever. I can question my own religion and the myths people associate towards my religion.

What Gill finds as his “full purpose” of being a teacher is a unconventional thought many might not even consider or think of in their own lifetime. He teaches to “educate students the importance of “using their voice to help find equality.” The lessons and tales he tells aren’t an effort to be mere fables or thoughts to fill a course, but rather an opportunity for students to challenge themselves and discover new ways of understanding. If he can challenge a single student's thoughts of what may not be systematically equal, he feels like he’s “doing [his job].

“There is no other job I can see myself doing at this age. What teaching can do is change the world one student at a time, and I will do my part to inflict a positive change on my student’s lives.”