John Pease

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Dr. John Allan Pease, Ph.D., is a tenured Professor of Sociology at the University of Maryland, College Park, who has taught since August, 1968, and is a strong advocate for strengthening academic standards and making higher education affordable to students who come from less priveleged backgrounds.

To University of Maryland students of the late 1980s, his name might be familiar as a primary author of the "Pease Report"-- a comprehensive review of the state of affairs in education at the University, and suggestions for improvement from the handful of faculty who participated in writing it. Pease is also noteworthy in the number of teaching awards he has garnered over the years. His office is full of accolades ranging from official distinguished teaching awards, to crude handmade awards from his students, fashioned in appreciation for his efforts in teaching.

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[edit] Early Years

John Pease was born in 1936 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the sixth child of fourteen children. His father was employed by the railroad in Kalamazoo, Michigan, where he was raised. Although they survived the Great Depression, his family was poor. Pease learned to be frugal from childhood, and as he matured, he began to identify with others -the poor and the disenfranchised. The first in his family ever to graduate high school, he jokes that he developed an interest in attending college only after he found that it was where all the girls from school had gone. After enrolling in college, he found another passion; learning about "what makes the rich keep getting richer, and the poor keep growing poorer." This extended itself towards minorities, indigenous peoples, and other issues. His studies turned towards such courses as inequality in American society, and social stratification.

[edit] Education

Pease worked his way through college, attending first Western Michigan University and then moved to East Lansing, Michigan, attending Michigan State University, and graduating with a doctorate from the latter in 1968, and accepting a teaching position as a Professor of Sociology at the University of Maryland, College Park, where he remains today.

[edit] "I'd Rather Be Studying"

Pease routinely teaches three undergraduate courses: an introductory course to Sociology, Poverty in America, and Social Stratification and Inequality. He is known for his off-beat sense of humor and quirky habits, as well as for creating the "Legend of Sara Bellum," stories about a girl who dies from lack of studying, which he passes out on occasion during his introductory class.[1] There is actually a marker of "Sara Bellum's" final resting place on campus, though no one would dare take responsibility for it. Many students enjoy his lighthearted take on the course material, and some claim that his course is the reason why they have become sociologists. Pease was a recipient of the CTE-Lilly Fellows program in 1997-1998 from the Center For Teaching Excellence [2] in addition to receiving the University of Maryland's Distinguished Scholar Teacher Award. He is also an active member of the Campus Senate and a critical stategist in focusing on the most cost-effective ways of providing an increasingly higher level of education for all students, keeping in mind the students who suffer from economic hardships as he once did.

Pease is the founder of the "I'd Rather Be Studying" gang, who made an attempt at having that phrase become the University motto, though it was struck down because they were told that it didn't sound official enough. The University of Maryland, College Park still has no motto.

[edit] An Unorthodox Art of Teaching

The University of Maryland has several majors that are ranked highly in the United States. However, Pease never lost sight of his past, and endeavors to assist students who lack an equally good academic background. Because of this, he employs a variety of ways to teach and assist all students who take his courses. Occasionally, he uses comedy, as in the "Sara Bellum" stories and lectures. Other times might find him playing music: topical songs of different genres as students file in for class, songs from the likes of Woody Guthrie at the beginning of a lecture on the Great Depression, or Billie Holliday's rendition of "Strange Fruit" before a lecture on Civil Rights. Because of such approaches to reach students' interest in the course material, his classes are among the first to be filled each semester. His premise is that teachers need to explore every avenue in getting the subject material across. In addition, he mentors students who come to him either because they wish to pursue a degree in Sociology, or those who need more assistance learning, with his "Soche Buffs' Rescue Mission", an extended period of office hours where he'll go over course material one on one with students who are struggling with the material.

According to Pease, a major matter of concern isn't only the cost of tuition, but the increasingly prohibitive cost of the textbooks and course materials that are needed for class. For example, a concern is newer editions of books that are not fundamentally different from past editions. In an article to the Washington Post newspaper, he says, "Once they've published a textbook and there's a zillion of them out there -- that's it for their profit until they can come up with a new edition or some sort of technique to sell more books."[3] The Post continues, "One of the techniques Pease and others cite is the 'bundling' of books with other materials, such as study guides, Web site access, test questions, CD-ROMs and more. These add-ons are helping to drive up the cost of books.[3]


[edit] Current Work

Pease still is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Maryland, College Park, and is also an occasional contributor to the University of Maryland Diamondback, with editorials or occasionally, one of his Sara Bellum stories. Most recently, Pease was honored with the 2008 University of Maryland System, Board of Regents' Faculty Award for Excellence in Mentoring.[4]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Pease, John (accessed on 31 January, 2008)The True Story of Sara Bellum
  2. ^ Cohort Program; Town Hall With Undergraduates [1]
  3. ^ a b Pressler, Margaret Webb (accessed 20 January, 2008)The Washington Post "Textbook Prices On the Rise"
  4. ^ Department of Sociology, UMCP Sociology Department; John Pease Retrieved 9 June, 2008

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