By AMBER SCALES, Student Reporter
Sarah Fry
Instructor of criminal justice Sarah Fry earned a bachelor of arts degree in anthropology/ sociology from Westminster College and a master of arts degree in criminology from Pennsylvania State University (PSU). This fall she expects to complete her doctorate of philosophy degree in sociology, also from PSU. She has worked as an instructor, research assistant, guest lecturer and teaching assistant at PSU.
Q: What will students learn is your superpower?
A: “Socratic questioning. Answering a question with another question.”
Q: What do you love about the subject you teach and why?
A: “I view myself as a sociologist of crime and criminal justice, so for me I feel like sociology is very important because I think, for undergraduates, [it is important to understand] how to live as good human citizens in the world and help you see the bigger picture of what it means to live in a certain society and cultural context. … Crime and criminal justice intersect with all sorts of other social institutions in really interesting ways. I hope that students get excited about learning about those interceptions.”
Q: What are you looking forward to the most while working at NWOSU?
A: “I really look forward to being able to watch students grow in the program because I’ve taught before during graduate school, but I’ve never got to teach people more than once, so I think it’s going to be really fun to watch some of the students continue on through the program and I get to watch them grow as scholars.
Mickey Jordan
Instructor of Technical Theatre and Facilities Manager Mickey Jordan. Jordan holds a bachelor of arts degree in speech and theatre from Northwestern. His previous work experience includes: Shop Foreman and Graduate Assistant for the Fine Arts Department at Northwestern.
Q: What will students learn is your “superpower”?
A: “I do really well under stress and, even though sometimes it seems like I am a mad man with all these little bits and pieces, it will all come together and be something great.
Q: How do you make it work?
A: “Research, research, research is what I start with, a lot of luck and good planning.”
Q: What do you love about the subject you teach and why?
A: What I love about technical theater is that every time you do a new show you go in and learn something new. With a new show, you get to create a new world, you get to tell a new story and things like that just absolutely make it for me.
Q: What are you looking forward to the most while working at NWOSU?
A: “If I can help anybody the way the facility has helped me during my bachelor’s degree and now working through my masters. If I can do that for someone else, that’s one of the things I’m looking forward to the most, is passing that on.”
By NICK DILL, Student Reporter
Lindsey Cherry
Lindsey Cherry Instructor of English and coordinator of the English Education Program. She holds a degree in English, and a master of arts degree in English. Both from the University of Central Oklahoma.
Q: What will students learn is your “superpower”?
A: “ I think my superpower is or at least has been in the past is that I form really solid relationships with them all, because I really do care about what I do. And I care about their success. And I think they pick up on that. I’m still getting emails from students I had 10 years ago. Talking about you know that my English comp class was important to them. So that makes it feel like I’m doing something right.”
Q: What do you love about the subject you teach and why?
A: “Everything. I guess I like most about it that it challenges your perspectives and your thought processes. Because we don’t often get challenged, and it makes us uncomfortable. We can easily just kind of be in a niche with people who think like us , look like us, and talk like us and I have students confront and in my subject I confront other perspectives and other realities. And that pushes you and makes you think about things in a way that you haven’t thought about them before. That’s what I like about it.”
Q: What are you looking forward to the most while working at NWOSU?
A: “I think I am most looking forward to being able to make an impact. Um not only on freshman, but I’m also teaching upper division English ed classes, and being able to prepare future English teachers for what they’re going to be experiencing is something that I’m really looking forward to doing.”
By ALEJANDRO AARON, Student Reporter
Dr. Robert Vest
Dr. Robert Vest holds a Bachelors of Arts degree in Spanish and history from Northern Michigan University and a Master of Arts degree in foreign languages and literature (Spanish) from Purdue University. He also earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree in languages and cultures (Spanish), from Purdue. He also served as a graduate lecturer at Purdue and as an assistant professor of Spanish at Truman State (Mo.) University
Q: What will students learn is your superpower?
A: “I am really energetic. I fly around the classroom all the time asking people a million questions seeing if we can really learn to speak Spanish really well. Also my superpower is I respond to emails really quick. Students hate it when they don’t get their response quick enough and I always try to respond as quickly as possible so they’re not left waiting”
Q: What do you love about the subject you teach and why?
A: “I love being able to see the world through a different lens so that’s really what we are learning in Spanish is to see other cultures and other peoples way of seeing the world and not only being able to see the world but also speak about the world in a new way and participate in it”
Q: What are you looking forward to the most while working at NWOSU?
A: I am looking forward to growing the Spanish program, and getting more people excited about learning Spanish. I’m really looking forward to teaching some of the upper level literature courses once we get enough minors. That’s what I’m looking forward to the most”
By ANGEL PEREZ, Student Reporter
Erica Miller
Erica Miller instructor of Mass Communication holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mass Communication from Northwestern, a Master of Education degree in Adult Education from the University of Central Oklahoma. Miller worked as a marketing professional at Canadian Valley Technology Center.
Q: What will students learn is your “superpower”?
A: “I’m pretty intuitive and I read people pretty well and so I can kind of distinguish what kind of personality someone has pretty early on, so I guess will call that my superpower.”
Q: How do you make it work?
A: “I am very good at listening and paying attention and picking up body language and I’m pretty observant.”
Q: What do you love about the subject you teach and why?
A: I love that it answers the question why, so we are looking reaching different audiences using different channels and different mode of communications with a reason why and I like the fact that is not communicating just randomly there is a method to the madness basically and so that is probably the thing I enjoy most about it and I have work professionally and communication in marketing for almost 15 years now.
Q: What are you looking forward to the must while working at NWOSU?
A: “I am most looking forward to getting to know my students and sharing some of my professional experiences and watching the students grow and then eventually graduated and is exciting to be a part of someone’s grow process.”
By ANGEL PEREZ, Student Reporter
Dr. Robida Perez
Dr. Robida, earned a Bachelor of Science degree in biology from Metropolitan State (Colo.) College of Doctor of Philosophy degree in biomedical science from the University of South Carolina.
Q: What will students learn is your “superpower”?
A: “I’m very calm person and I try to be very fair.”
Q: How do you make it work?
A: “Is just tried to understand that everyone has their own point of view, their own culture of backgrounds and everybody is different and so with that understanding, normally you can just to work out any problems that are rise with somebody. Listening and talking in out sometimes so I don’t typically get irritated or frustrated, that’s for what my teenagers sometimes.”
Q: What do you love about the subject you teach and why?
A: “So I teach right now Physiology but I always kind of just been fascinated with human biology and particular I went to a medical school because I like you know helping others and stuff but then when I was getting my undergraduate degree I felt like want it to go in to research and more going to the teaching rule is kind of stay helping people but in a different way so I guess made me feel because of the stuff but then my years king of shifted in to just to helping people, so that’s why I kind teach more biology classes.”
Q: What are you looking forward to the must while working at NWOSU?
A: “I must look forward to individual interactions with the students and helping them, achieved their goals here at Northwestern and also any future careers goals as well.”
By NICK DILL, Student Reporter
Victoria Hendricks
Instructor of English Victoria Hendricks earned a bachelor of arts degree in English language and literature, and a master of arts degree in English language and literature, both from Wichita State University.
Q: What will students learn is your “superpower?”
A: “The ability to not take myself too seriously, even as an instructor or college instructor. I know that we come off as intimidating or scary. I believe at least this is a practice for me. I intentionally do so because I want to set the framework and, you know, really hit the ground running that this is a student’s first job. It needs to be taken seriously, but that they will see a little glimmer of me every class being real and relevant, and being able to make fun of myself like I did today in fact. That is my superpower. Realizing that even though I’m a master in my field, I’m an expert in English, that I’m still very down-to-earth and I can let them know that I’m human, and that I make mistakes. And that I just don’t take myself very seriously at all.”
Q: What do you love about the subject you teach and why?
A: “I’ve been a reader for so long, I’ve been reading since before I can remember. It was always an escape for me as a child; being able to read different stories, and then be able to tell different stories. Writing has always come very naturally to me. So as far as the craft itself, I love the things that we’re able to tell about the human condition, about yourself, about other people and the amount of information that we have now, because of the English language and English literature. It makes for a more well-informed world. I think it just has made me a more a better rounded out person. I could spend all day talking about this, but I won’t. That’s my short answer.”
Q: What are you looking forward to the most while working at NWOSU?
A: “As cliche as it may sound, I’m very sincere and very genuine when I say that I just want to have an impact on students’ lives. I want them to try and fall in love with English as much as I have, and realize that it’s not scary. It doesn’t have to be intimidating or hard, and that they can enjoy it, and can learn. Being back in a classroom with students and figuring out who they are as a people and how they approach English is really what I’m looking forward to the most, and hopefully being able to do some scholarship of my own and get back into some of my own research.”