Lou Hirsch takes the classroom beyond the textbook

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Sept. 20, 2024) — Lou Hirsch goes by the title “assistant professor,” but that doesn’t quite tell the full story. Hirsch is the kind of teacher who doesn’t just read lessons from a book; he teaches lessons for life. He’s not the type to seek out awards, but they seem to find him anyway.

Recently, the American Phytopathological Society, a group dedicated to the science of plant diseases, handed him one of their top teaching prizes: the Excellence in Teaching award.

However, if you ask him how he feels about it, he’ll probably shrug and deflect the praise. But the truth is, his work matters — not just to plant science, but to the students he guides along the way.

The 40-year-old joined the UK Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment in 2015. An assistant professor in the Department of Plant Pathology, Hirsch is also the director of undergraduate studies in the Department of Agricultural and Medical Biotechnology and Agricultural Individualized Curriculum programs.

And outside of all that instruction and academic program leadership, Hirsch’s focus is providing effective science outreach to the community and K-12 school districts throughout Kentucky.

What strikes one about Hirsch isn’t the accolades or the awards, though they’re plenty. It’s how he talks about his students. He knows the world moves faster than it used to, so he tries to keep with it.

“I try to stay with what my students are interested in,” Hirsch says, “to keep my content relevant. Students are changing. Therefore, I also need to change how I teach.”

Many of his students juggle jobs, families and other home responsibilities, but Hirsch does his best to keep the course material connected to their lives. He knows that if he doesn’t meet them where they are, he’ll lose them to the endless distractions.

A field few understand, but everyone needs

Plant pathology isn’t something the general public thinks about. However, it’s one of the most important fields out there. Plant diseases can wipe out crops, ruin livelihoods and threaten food supplies. Hirsch teaches his students to understand it all, from tiny pathogens to vast agricultural ecosystems.

It's a complicated science. One needs to know a little bit of everything — microbiology, botany, genetics, even nematology, which studies tiny worms that live in the soil. More than just how to spot a sick plant, Hirsch is teaching students to think on their feet, to solve problems with whatever tools they have.

“You can look up facts,” he says. “Facts are like dots. What matters is how you find answers and what you do with them. I want to get my students to take those dots and find out how to connect them.”

He’s seemingly won all the teaching awards you can at UK — the Great Teacher Award, the Provost Outstanding Teaching Award, the Martin-Gatton CAFE Master Teacher Award, the UK College of Education’s Teacher Who Made a Difference Award. But this latest award, from the American Phytopathological Society, feels different.

“It’s good to see teaching recognized in a field like ours,” Hirsch says. “Most of the focus in plant pathology is on research and extension work, but teaching? Teaching is how you bring the next generation into the fold.”

A journey that was never planned

His own journey to plant pathology was anything but direct. Hirsch majored in English and religious studies at New Orleans’ Tulane University before finding a passion in scuba diving. He moved to San Diego and worked as a diving instructor and even earned his boat captain’s license while managing a scuba charter company, taking customers out to sea.

But when his wife got into graduate school in Arkansas, he found himself in a new world. To make ends meet, Hirsch took a job washing dishes in a plant pathology lab, not knowing it would lead him to where he is now.

Through that tiny job, he found his calling. Step-by-step, Hirsch moved through the ranks, earning his master’s degree and then his Ph.D. at the University of Arkansas.

Teaching underwater: A different kind of classroom

Just because he lives in the Bluegrass State, Hirsch is still passionate about diving. He still teaches scuba diving as part of the Natural Resources and Environmental Science curriculum study abroad program, blending his old world with his current one. And the lessons he learned as a diving instructor still guide his teaching today: clear communication, hands-on experience and making sure students can do more than just recite information — they need to understand it.

Hirsch takes his students to places where textbooks can't reach, diving into the waters off the coast to explore the vibrant ecosystems that thrive below the surface. For many of these students, it’s their first time seeing a world that feels alien but is essential to the health of the planet. Whether it’s swimming through coral formations or observing marine life in its natural habitat, the experience leaves a lasting impression.

Just like in his plant pathology courses, his focus isn’t on memorizing details but on connecting ideas.

“I’m not interested in making them memorize types of fish,” he says. “I want them to see the bigger picture — to understand how the health of the ocean connects to everything else.”

Hirsch said he wants his students to leave his class with a map in their heads, one that helps them connect the knowledge they gather along the way.

“Whether they go on to become plant pathologists or something else entirely, I know they’ll be better equipped for whatever comes next.”