A college professor at the University of Tennessee is earning all the praise after her email response to a student who missed class went viral.
When 21-year-old Morgan King had to miss class because she couldn’t find anyone to watch her 3-month-old daughter Korbyn, she emailed her professor to explain her absence.
The infant’s grandparents usually watch her during the day, but prior commitments that morning left Morgan scrambling. With no other options, she stayed home with Korbyn and was forced to miss her Human Development Class.
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Morgan wasn’t sure of the response she’d get from her professor, having missed a quiz and two study videos. But she never expected what Dr. Sally Hunter wrote in return:
“I’m so sorry that childcare issues are what caused you to miss class today.”
She went on to detail what Morgan had missed, where she could find the videos to study on her own time, and gave her permission to still submit the assignment from the day. Then she encouraged the therapeutic recreation major to do something most professors wouldn’t: bring the baby to class.
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“In the future, if you are having trouble finding someone to watch Korbyn, please feel free to BRING HER with you to class. I would be absolutely delighted to hold her while I teach, so that you can still pay attention to the class and take notes.”
She continued:
“I work for the department of CHILD and FAMILY Studies—so how terrible would it be if I was unwilling to have a child visit our class? I’m very serious with this offer—just bring Korbyn with you!”
As if her generous offer wasn’t enough to have Morgan swimming in tears, Dr. H even told her that the quiz she missed would be dropped, and she had counted her absence as “excused.”
Blown away by her professor’s response, Morgan shared a photo of the email on Twitter, which quickly went viral.
“I’m literally crying,” she included at the end of her post. “So blessed/thankful.”
Morgan told local news that it gives her chills just talking about the kind-hearted gesture.
“She really wants me to succeed in her class. That just really spoke majorly to me.”
As for Professor Hunter, Morgan says the educator, who doesn’t have a Twitter, doesn’t believe she’s done anything special—even after learning that she’s “Twitter Famous.”
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All the praise for Dr. H! Her heartfelt offer to Morgan speaks volumes to the person and educator that she is. It’s not conventional, but it’s what will help her student succeed. It doesn’t get much better than that.
