Professors play hooky
Hillsdale professors visit Italy, tattoo parlor during summer
Mary Petrides
Issue date: 9/13/07 Section: News
Between writing syllabi and putting in bookstore orders, some Hillsdale College professors spent their summer doing everything from teaching and traveling to writing papers and watering blueberry plants.
"Nobody's sitting around eating bonbons," English Lecturer Melinda Von Sydow said.
Associate Professor of History David Stewart certainly did not.
Stewart's father purchased a farm in the "middle of honkin' nowhere, Kentucky,"
Stewart said, and Stewart spent part of his summer helping out.
His antipathy toward the 50 chickens that roamed the farm grew considerably during that time.
"I relish eating fried chicken now," Stewart said.
When foxes attacked the chickens, Stewart made a point not to lose any sleep over it.
He felt similarly about the 3,000 blueberry plants he watered by hand - there was no running water - and the farm's rural location.
"This is America," he said. "You shouldn't have to drive 40 minutes to spend money."
Associate Professor of History Richard Gamble traveled a bit farther than 40 minutes this summer.
Gamble taught seminars for history teachers in Erie, Pa., and Las Cruces, N.M. These seminars, funded by the U.S. Department of Education's Teaching American History grants, run for three weeks each summer. Gamble has been teaching at these seminars since 2005.
"I want to make sure the teachers think more carefully about how they put the pieces of history together," Gamble said.
"My primary goal is to get them excited about getting back into the classroom."
Von Sydow's classroom excitement this summer came from the class she taught at
Life and Liberty Camp, which immerses inner-city high school students in the college experience.
She said campers wrote rap songs in her English class and, most importantly, stayed awake.
Though perhaps not writing rap songs, professors have homework, too, Gamble said, looking up from a 30-page draft on his desk.
"Nobody's sitting around eating bonbons," English Lecturer Melinda Von Sydow said.
Associate Professor of History David Stewart certainly did not.
Stewart's father purchased a farm in the "middle of honkin' nowhere, Kentucky,"
Stewart said, and Stewart spent part of his summer helping out.
His antipathy toward the 50 chickens that roamed the farm grew considerably during that time.
"I relish eating fried chicken now," Stewart said.
When foxes attacked the chickens, Stewart made a point not to lose any sleep over it.
He felt similarly about the 3,000 blueberry plants he watered by hand - there was no running water - and the farm's rural location.
"This is America," he said. "You shouldn't have to drive 40 minutes to spend money."
Associate Professor of History Richard Gamble traveled a bit farther than 40 minutes this summer.
Gamble taught seminars for history teachers in Erie, Pa., and Las Cruces, N.M. These seminars, funded by the U.S. Department of Education's Teaching American History grants, run for three weeks each summer. Gamble has been teaching at these seminars since 2005.
"I want to make sure the teachers think more carefully about how they put the pieces of history together," Gamble said.
"My primary goal is to get them excited about getting back into the classroom."
Von Sydow's classroom excitement this summer came from the class she taught at
Life and Liberty Camp, which immerses inner-city high school students in the college experience.
She said campers wrote rap songs in her English class and, most importantly, stayed awake.
Though perhaps not writing rap songs, professors have homework, too, Gamble said, looking up from a 30-page draft on his desk.
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