By SELENA ESTRADA, Student Reporter
In the summer, Dena Walker refuses to do math. Instead, she puts on her khaki pants and gives tours around Alabaster Caverns State Park.
Yes, this Northwestern mathematics professor cleans bathroom, campsites and gives tours as her summer job.
The 34-year-old, Pawnee native is better known as Dr. Walker or Doc Walk, as most of her students call her. Walker teaches freshman-sophomore level math classes, as well as geometry and geometry for elementary teachers. Walker graduated from Northwestern with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics education, got her masters in secondary administration and later got her doctorate in professional mathematics education, from Oklahoma State University.
Walker’s humorous and caring personality can be seen miles away. She is loved by many of her students, but also by people she has never taught before. Yesenia Buckhaults is a 2015 Northwestern graduate and is currently teaching intermediate Algebra at Northwestern. Buckhaults said she was Walker’s student for one year, but Walker was always there to help her in whatever she needed.
“Dr. Walker is an awesome person, she’s funny, she’s a very positive, a great mentor and supporter for me,” Buckhaults said. “Walker is a humorous, fun, kind-hearted person who is easy to get along with. Being around her is never a dull.
Dakota Buckhaults, a 2016 graduate of Northwestern with a degree in mathematics education. “I love Dr. Walker,” she said. “She made things easy to understand and fun. Classes were never boring, and she never made it feel like a lecture.” Dakota Buckhaults said.
To one’s surprise, Walker’s passion is people. “I like to help college students achieve their dream as well as help them become responsible adults,” Walker said.
Whether you’re in one of her classes or not, you can always find a friend in Walker. Yesenia Buckhaults said she felt comfortable going to Walker for anything. Walker wasn’t her advisor at any time, but she always gave her good advice and helped her with anything. Now that Buckhaults is a teacher herself, she said Walker is always there to help her with advice on how to handle issues with students or tips on how to face the challenges of teaching.
Walker takes her passion serious and has helped several college students. “She took care of me in college, and helped me a lot,” Dakota Buckhaults said, “Whether it was to help me get a job or just give advice, she was always there for me.”
Even though Walker is admired and well respected, she still has a humorous personality. She said she tends to be somewhat inappropriate at the wrong times and is not politically correct on most days.
Walker not only teaches math courses, but she is also one of the Miss Cinderella pageant coordinators. However, despite being a professor and a pageant coordinator, Walker said she doesn’t tend to fit in at formal functions; she’d much rather be wearing jeans and a T-shirt. “My mother did teach me to be able to eat with the queen and buck bales with the boys,” Walker said. “I can do it, but I just don’t enjoy it.”
One of Walker’s favorite things is baseball. “I love to walk barefoot in freshly mowed, baseball grass,” she said. Another favorite of hers is a good, fresh gummy bear and the color red.
Outside of her job, Walker enjoys volunteering at church and is a Vacation Bible School director. She also enjoys watching movies, reading and hanging out with friends. However, in contrast with most women, she said she is not a shopper. When she does shop, however, she has three specific things she shops for. “You can’t go wrong with shoes, jewelry or purses because they will always fit no matter what size my hips are,” she said.
Without missing a beat, she shared a fun fact that many might not have known about. “If you eat an entire box of Captain Crunch in two days, you will have green poop,” she said.
One of Walker’s nick names is “Doc Walk,” which is what most of her students call her. However, this isn’t the only nick name she has had. Walker used to be a dorm mom in South Hall where they used to have a “Random Comment of the Day Contest.” Walker would always win this contest so she ended up getting the nick name “Random Rita.”