Testimonials:

  • "Et tu, DeBacker?"
    -- written on a Calculus final given at The University of Chicago, The Ides of March, 1994.
  • "VERY good teacher, probably the best classroom technique I've seen (except for D. Herrmann), but had a weird little evil streak. Wore really awful sweaters all quarter. No longer at UC. Word on the street is he's gotten a real appointment at Michigan. Good for him. Too bad for those tender souls who will be taking his classes."
    -- N.C., 2003.

  • "A strange thing happened while I was brushing my teeth. This has become a more meditative time for me, since I've switched to one of those Oral-B type electric toothbrushes, and the work is reduced to a pleasant mindlessness. Before Oral-B, I was worrying all of the time about technique and missed teeth and such.

    I was thinking about this dance class that I am taking, and how the instructor has an irritating habit of beginning didactic moments by saying "For you mathematicians out there..." and then proceeding to say something that she seems to imagine is both (a) mathematics in some way, and (b) of some instructional value, dance-wise. I was thinking in particular of her way of describing the rhythm associated with particular dances as if each different one was part of some cohesive whole, as if 3/4 time followed logically from 4/4, or vice versa, and thinking how truly silly this all was.

    I was thinking that dance instructors ought to have Plans B, C, and so on, for persons like me who don't hear rhythm and certainly not while moving our feet in unfamiliar prescribed fashion. I was thinking of my own experiences teaching math, learning math, and then (for reference, we have now moved to the bottom teeth) was thinking of your Calculus course. There were many happy thoughts about learning things, and many happy thoughts about how many of the things I learned didn't ripen until much later, say in the first quarter of algebra or possibly analysis, though it's all a bit fuzzy. One of your quizzes began with a quote from someone who was describing the epiphanic moment when all of the epsilons and deltas stopped dancing just out of focus (metaphor mine, not his), and he became a mathematician. I had no such moments, but many smaller ones which were deeply satisfying in their own way. Epiphanic moments, even small ones, are to be treasured. You realize this more when you become a lawyer. Epiphanic moments cease.

    Anyway, this led me to wonder what had happened to you, and thus to Google, and thus to your web page, and thus to Natalia C.'s testimonial, which is pretty much dead-on, if memory serves. I thought it might please you to know that, even after many years. And if it doesn't, don't worry, it pleases me."

    -- J.J., a student of mine in, I believe, 1993-1994, 2004

  • "Debacker is very helpful if you go to his office hours. He's also very encouraging, even when he seems discouraged by how clueless we are during class."
    -- an anonymous UofM 295 (Honors Math I) student on RateMyProfessor.com, November, 2004.

  • "The dastardly devil Dr. DeBacker dared delve into the deepest depths and didn't dwindle while differentiating."
    -- an anonymous UofM 296 (Honors Math II) student, April, 2005.

  • "Great guy. Always did the joke per day, gave the class a nice break. He taught the topics well too. Although calc 3 isnt my favorite, I was more bearable thanks to stephen. My favorite joke was something about 'this is where fun comes to die'."
    -- an anonymous UofM 215 (Calculus III) student on RateMyProfessor.com, September, 2005.
    (Although it's probably a typo, I'll take credit for improving this student's overall demeanor.)

  • "Although your jokes were bad and your timing was awful, I really enjoyed the class."
    -- an anonymous UofM 215 (Calculus III) student, December, 2005.

  • "Stephen taught Calc III.
    Took me two tries to pass it.
    But I'm finally done."
    -- haiku from an anonymous UofM 215 (Calculus III) student, April, 2006.

  • "Alliteration just for you: 'DeBacker did do that double integral with dutiful dispatch didn't he? Dare I say doing derivatives denotes delicious decadence to the delightful domain of dastardly mathematics.'"
    -- an anonymous UofM 215 (Calculus III) student, December, 2006.

  • "This class was pretty chewed. The instructor did a good job teaching the concepts but he was a little bit lurch, as were many of the students in the class. If you don't know, now you know."
    -- an anonymous UofM 215 (Calculus III) student, December, 2006.
    (If you know what the above means, please e-mail your explanation to me.)

  • "When you are deep into thought on the final exam, and you can[']t remember how to find the volume of a solid: Don't fret. It[']s simply the triple integral over the region of the number one. You know, the number one, like the total number of different shirts professor Debacker has worn to lecture this year. With that said, he is still amazing. GO BLUE."
    -- an anonymous UofM 215 (Calculus III) student on RateMyProfessor.com, April, 2007.
    (In my defense: I wear a clean shirt each day. As of this writing, I have 23 UM math shirts in 4 different styles.)

  • "Great lecturer, funny, interesting, good math, great exam prep. But you don't have to be a d*** about it. Be a little nicer and caring."
    -- an anonymous UofM 215 (Calculus III) student, April, 2007.

  • "The meticulous material pleasantly presented in this cantankerous class was devilishly difficult, but the dedicated and derisive DeBacker adventurously attempted to informatively instruct with strategically surprising success despite dense students."
    -- an anonymous UofM 215 (Calculus III) student, April, 2007.

  • "would you chill out? noone's out to get you. you need to jump down everyone's throat all the time"
    -- an e-mail from a UofM 215 (Calculus III) student, September, 2007.
    (The above e-mail was sent in response to an e-mail I had sent to the 800 or so students of 215 in which I rather politely (in my opinion) restated a change in due dates that had perplexed about 100 of the students (some of whom did not realize that the current year was 2007). I will decline the offer to jump down peoples' throats. I am pretty sure that the student is correct about Noone. Note to students: This is an example of how not to address your professors; you should at least use correct punctuation and spelling.)

  • "There once was a mad math'matician;
    Who made killing freshmen his mission;
    'My plot can't misfire,'
    said the wicked old liar:
    'I'll bore them by proving addition.'"
    -- limerick from an anonymous UofM 295 (Honors Math I) student on RateMyProfessor.com, December, 2007.

  • "Debacker is incredible, really helpful, and not quite as scary as he seems at first. Great lecturer, and really enthusiastic. 295, on the other hand, is only for the crazy. If you do well in it, you will end up in love with mathematics, but it requires a large commitment and is very fast-paced. So consider carefully if that's what you want."
    -- an anonymous UofM 295 (Honors Math I) student on RateMyProfessor.com, December, 2007.

  • "There once was a coordinator for 215;
    Who students would think was quite mean;
    Over his exams they would stew;
    But if only they knew:
    His true passion was to keep the primes clean (and neat)."
    -- C.B., 2007.

  • "... I appreciate the hard work you've made us do. Even if I was thinking 'When will joke time come?' at some points, I knew being in your class was time well spent."
    -- B.M., 2007.
  • It is not quite a testimonial, but I find the discussion of my sartorial habits at umgoblue.com to be entertaining.

  • "This class is responsible for my interest in mathematics. Before, I thought math was nice but not necessarily something I wanted to spend the rest of my life doing. Now I have an identity crisis on what I want to do because I've realized how incredibly cool mathematics is. Also, I only took this class b/c Debacker bullied me into it, and said other math classes were for engineers, but now I'm really glad I took it."
    -- an anonymous UofM 295 (Honors Math I) student, December, 2007.

  • "For assuming that one is not equal to zero, DeBacker will always be my hero."
    -- an anonymous UofM 295 (Honors Math I) student, December, 2007.

  • "When Dante said 'E 'n la sua volontade é nostra pace' (his will is our peace) he wasn't talking about Prof. DeBacker. But then again, that's not a quote from [The] Inferno."
    -- an anonymous UofM 295 (Honors Math I) student, December, 2007.

  • "Dr. DeBacker's height is immense and unquestionable. Because of this, his students and coworkers suffer from abnormally high rates of chronic neck pain due to the neck-angle necessary to make eye contact. Dr. DeBacker is known to use his height for malicious purposes, including hiding pieces of chalk on the tops of blackboards with the intention of depriving more vertically-challenged faculty of them."
    -- an anonymous UofM 296 (Honors Math II) student, April, 2008.

  • "Professor DeBacker is very strange, but I love his classes and I learned more than I ever thought possible. ... Everything is freaking hard, but DeBacker's chuffed and irreverent visage helped us grin and bear it. I wish Prof. DeBacker got more sleep. The only thing worse than his blackboard-obscuring height are his irresponsible sleeping habits."
    -- an anonymous UofM 296 (Honors Math II) student, April, 2008.

  • "Every day in this class I felt like I was being dragged by a small string attached on the other side to a truck going about 150mph. I felt sure the string broke every day, but somehow I still ended up at the destination at the end."
    -- an anonymous UofM 296 (Honors Math II) student, April, 2008.

  • "Mr. M was a math slacker.
    He ran into Professor DeBacker.
    A kick in the back,
    296 made him crack,
    Now Mr. M is a math master!
    -- Mr. M, April, 2008.

  • "Stephen DeBacker is always awake:
    Finding mistakes in the proofs that you make,
    Blinding your mind with words esoteric.
    But, for his students, his kids he'll forsake.
    Stephen DeBacker -- his writing's quick quick!
    In blackboards-long proofs, there's always a trick.
    Compiled homeworks are long as the book;
    Staying up Thursdays, you'll soon become sick.
    Stephen DeBacker, he kills with a look.
    With his dry humor, our honor he's took.
    And yes, he may be a chalk-stealing crook.
    Instead of math texts, he reads grammar books.


    And for my rhyme scheme, perhaps he will weep --
    Stephen DeBacker, who needs much more sleep."
    -- C.H., December, 2008.

  • "Fun thing to do #23: Ask a random person to prove that 1>0. I've asked my friends and family and they had some interesting answers. Thank you DeBacker for making everyone I know think I'm crazy."
    -- an anonymous UofM 295 (Honors Math I) student, December, 2008.

  • "Math 295 is like a van, with DeBacker playing the role of the man behind the wheel. He gets little sleep in driving across the beach of material, but really, that's completely understandable considering what's going on while he's driving (analysis... what else?)

    Oh, the students? They're the bugs squashed on the windshield being carried along for the ride. But hey, at the end, those bugs that survived the trip got a free view of the beach!"
    -- an anonymous UofM 295 (Honors Math I) student, December, 2008.

  • "My professor is Stephen DeBacker
    In the language of math, he's a hacker.
    His proofs are so slick,
    They go past real quick,
    At least for this struggling slacker.

    The jokes that DeBacker knows well,
    Are just half of the ones he can tell.
    The rest just aren't fit,
    For the room where we sit,
    So he'll laugh to himself for a spell."
    -- an anonymous UofM 296 (Honors Math II) student, April, 2009.

  • "Stephen DeBacker gives hope that one day our struggle for a deep understanding of the grand ocean of mathematics can become a half time joke to another student."
    -- an anonymous UofM 296 (Honors Math II) student, April, 2009.
  • "Thank you for all of our help. I know that your time is valuable, and I guess what I am saying wth this is that I hope your time is worth around 4 dollars."
    -- D.M.(from a note on a box of Girl Scout Thin Mints), 2009.

  • "Five students (plus one) once came to Budapest.
    To attempt (quite poorly) to pass a little test.
    They were sent by a man quite tall and crackerish;
    A professional nerd, lives his life all DeBackerish.
    As a group, they arrived (the students and leader),
    Mere days ago (for math they were eager),
    To find identity (in the city) and associativity (among peers),
    And surely (inversely) to relax alone (with some (root) beers).
    Our group (with axioms above), so sad to leave this attraction,
    Have thoroughly enjoyed (nay, loved) this wonderful group DeB-action."
    -- the Michigan IMC team, July, 2009.

  • "I put in an immense amount of work to learn what was, for me, very challenging material. Because of your focus on crafting proofs that are completely cogent with no gaps in logic, this mathematics course had lasting impact on, of all things, the way I write. Finally, there's a real sense of bonhomie in a classroom filled with people working hard to learn challenging math that I really enjoyed."
    --M.G., A student of mine in Math 203 at Chicago in 2000, November, 2010.

  • It is not quite a testimonial, but it is not everyday that one is honored as a hero, especially by one's Dean's office.