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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2014
PAGE 7
Professor at Edwards Campus wins HOPE Award
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
LAUREN METZLER
@MetzlerLauren
David Pendergrass, a biology professor at the Edwards Campus, was named the winner of this year's Honor for an Outstanding Progressive Educator award
David Pendergrass, professor of biology at the Edwards Campus, is this year's winner of the H.O.P.E. Award, Honor for an, Outstanding Progressive Educator. The senior class decides the winner each year. Pendergrass has been at the University for 12 years and prior to being at the University, he was an instructor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine, Northeast High School in the Kansas City Missouri School District and Johnson County Community College.
Kansan: How did you feel when you found out that you won the H.O.P.E. Award?
Pendergrass: I was thrilled and so humbled. Especially because I'm at Edwards Campus, it was just being nominated, that was the bigger thrill. The idea that clearly there were Lawrence students that voted for me and put me in the top four. That was a surprise because I'm not really in Lawrence.
Kansan: Does it mean more to you that the award is selected by the students?
Pendergrass: Oh my god, yes. That means everything. For an instructor, that's the highest honor, that the students themselves recognize you. It really, really made me extremely happy. I was thrilled. I couldn't believe it.
Kansan: What was it like to be honored at the KU vs. TCU football game?
Pendergrass: About a second before they made the announcement, I knew because the camera guy started looking at me. So I was already in the process of just being surprised. I was speechless actually, when I first won the award, and that doesn't happen very often. I was just thrilled to no end. Really, it meant the world to me.
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Kansan: What values have you brought with you to the University from your previous experiences?
dents, that we don't know each other.
Pendergrass: One of the things that I value strongly, as long as students are willing to do this, I really want to know who they are. I want to get to know them as people, not (just) students. I really believe that that's something missing between professors and stu-
Kansan: What is your favorite thing about teaching?
Pendergrass: The "aha moment," when a concept suddenly gets into your head, and you've been working so hard, making mistakes trying to learn it. All of a sudden, it just kind of flies in and there's clarity. That's really what this is about.
Kansan: Your course material is challenging, how do you draw the line between saying that you want students to look at the material in your abstract thinking method and making concessions for them?
Pendergrass: For many students, what I do is so different. Many students are very successful memorizers. I actually make them come my way with it and I have that discussion with them. You can kind of identify those left-brain, rigid thinking people right away. I talk to them, I say, "OK look, this is going to be a hard class for you because you're not used to somebody asking you to learn things in this particular way. But the good news is, you have the most to gain. You will get the most out of the class because you're going to struggle so much." There are
students [like that] and they all hate me, because I'm pushing them a way that they really don't want to do. It seems like I'm almost being mean and petty, even, because it seems like I don't care about how they're feeling, which is absolutely not true.
Kansan: After teaching for so many years, some professors might come to feel jaded a bit. Do you ever feel that way?
Pendergrass: No, I never do. The second I go into a classroom it's like, "OK, this is where I belong and this is a fantastic place to be." I always have come to love what I do on the teaching side and the interactions that I have with students are energetic and fun.
Kansan: How does it make you feel when students tell you that your teaching helped them later in life?
Pendergrass: Those are precious. Those are the most precious things 1 get from students: Somebody sending me a note saying, "Hey, I got this so well that I'm able to use it in this particular situation." That's such a powerful thing. It makes me get teary-eyed.
— Edited by Lyndsey Havens
JUST FOR FUN:
Pendergrass does a meditation exercise with his students to reduce stress before finals
Michigan college class focuses on Netflix series
ASSOCIATED PRESS
A NETFLIX ORIGINAL SERIES ORANGE is the new BLACK
Assistant Professor of English Kim Lacey at Saginaw Valley State University will use the show about inmates of a female prison as a basis when she teaches Writing about Oppression on TV this winter. She plans to discuss issues related to race, gender, class and sexual orientation with examples from the show's plotlines.
"I don't think we know how to have conversations — or more intelligent conversations — about those types of issues," Lacey said.
Her students will supplement episodes of the show
with a textbook that delves into the same issues presented in other media. Actress Laverne Cox, who plays Sophia Burset on the show, will speak on campus in February.
Lacey told "The Saginaw News" she loves the show and wants to keep talking about it. A lot of her students
CONTRIBUTED
also watch the show and wish to gain a better understanding of it, she said.
"They'll be able to watch shows and have a greater understanding or a greater vocabulary to discuss them intelligently," she said. "These shows are actually commenting on things that are happening in our society."
THE HONOR
PHI KAPPA PHI
SOCIETY OF
The University of Kansas Chapter is proud to announce its 2014 INITIATES
COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS & SCIENCES AND SCHOOL OF THE ARTS
Bahar Barani
Molly Alice Bernard
Maggie Boyles
Cassandra Burns
Connor Chestnut
Alycia Choikhit
Ashley Elizabeth Colen
Noah J. Compo
Brandon J. Easley
Ellie Eastes
Reid H. Eggleston
Lauren Haag
Janae Hall
Christina L. Hayhow
Rachel D. Heeb
Katherine M. Johns
John M. Kelsh
Marissa A. Kile
James Michael Landes
Regan Lesperance
Tony Libeer
Kelly Ann McGurren
Laurel Michel
Allison H. Pope
Adam John Timmermar
SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE,
DESIGN & PLANNING
Cammie Lewis Holiday
Tonie R. Barnett
Joseph S. Knackstedt
Abbey Ockinga
SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
Rebecca M. Achen
Olivia Hunter
Ellen Marie Jacobsen
SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING
SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
Luke M. Hangge
Mellissa Arlene Hopkins
Xue Lan
Andrew K. Litzler
Kathleen E. Meister
Devenie Kay Ross
SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING
Osama M. S. Al-Qassag
Shaheedren Ameen
Omid Farshadfar
Krishna P. Ghimire
Rachel Hagan
Jordan Hildenbrand
Mohammad Sajedul Huq
Joshua Johnson
Rouzbeh Khajehdehi
Annie Libeer
Ryan Pohl
Anthony M. Reid
Addison Schile
Yun Shao
Kevin M. Tenny
SCHOOL OF HEALTH PROFESSIONS
Aisha S. Al Naamani
Komla Wella Badjalimbe
Julie Elizabeth Bangert
Garrett Thomas Bendure
Angelique Irene Davis
Alexandria Doyle
Ruth Petros
Ashton L. Ringen
Rene Russell
Sarah E.Taylor
Chantal M.Umutoni
Kenny-Joe Wallen
SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM AND MASS COMMUNICATION Matthew Johnson
SCHOOL OF LAW
Sara Fevurly
Matthew Rogers
SCHOOL OF MUSIC
James R. Davidson
Amanda Helms
Leslie A. Jabara
Marie Lesiak
Ashley M. Puenner
SCHOOL OF NURSING
Jill M. Arzouman Amenda Fisher Deborah A. Florido Ashley Joyce Heiman Heather Marie Hoelscher Cathy Jean Hostettler Bree Howard Andreanna E. Kounas Emily Binh Nguyen Kelsea Renee O'Neal Allison Russell
SCHOOL OF PHARMACY
Brian Joseph Kempin
FACULTY INITIATE C. Bryan Young
PLEASE JOIN US IN CONGRATULATING KU'S NEWEST MEMBERS OF PHI KAPPA PHI.
The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi is the nation's oldest and most selective honor society for all academic disciplines. More than 100,000 members maintain their active status in Phi Kappa Phi, which affords them numerous benefits associated with dues-paying membership, including access to $1 million in awards and grants each biennium. Learn more at www.phikappaphi.org