INTERESTS
I am an airplane pilot who flies single engine planes out of the Emporia Airport. My neatest
experience was to go home to Santa Clara, California and rent a plane. My wife, my brother, a
flight instructor and I flew up the San Francisco Peninsula from Reid-Hillview Airport in San
Jose to San Francisco. We flew loops around the Trans-America Building, flew over Alcatraz
and the Golden Gate Bridge, and back along the ocean to Pigeon Point Lighthouse and then back.
This was a two hour flight that made my piloting experience well worth the effort.
Another neat experience was a flight with Seattle Seaplanes. Dr. Seguin, Dr. Childress, Dr.
Kasnic, and I attended the Intel Teach to the Future workshops in Seattle, Washington. I rented
the seaplane and flight instructor. I flew (with the help of the flight instructor) the four of us. We
took off from Lake Union and flew up between the Space Needle and the downtown buildings.
Then I dropped the other professors off. The flight instructor and I logged some time doing take-
offs and landings on an inlet of Puget Sound. A seaplane landing is like landing in Jello. What a
kick!!!
Going to conferences in major cities and vacation areas has allowed me to fly some unique
adventures as noted above. But flying a 'stick' airplane was a real joy. In Orlando, Florida, I was
able to fly a World War II T6 trainer at Warbird Adventures. Wingovers and barrel rolls were
great! The stick does all of the controls in one motion rather than control wheel and rudder
pedals. Another great flying kick!
My other major interest is computers. I learned computing on a "Trash 80" in 1981. That's
what we called the RadioShack TRS 80. The tape drive, a variation of a cassette tape, usually
was too warm and lost data or would not save data correctly. So far I have gone through a
Commodore 64, three early pcs, a pc laptop, and three Macs, including a Mac 6400 Power PC,
and a Mac PowerBook 520 (backlit gray screen).
For seven years I had a Mac 6300 Performa (home) that I had significantly upgraded. It was
cable TV ready in 1996 so I watched TV on it as I worked or played music cds on it. I can't part
with "old" equipment if I can upgrade it and get another year out of it. But as Jimmy Buffett
sings "only time will tell." Time did tell. I junked it in the spring of 2004.
Actually, I now have an eMAC (PowerPC G4), as well as, a Dell Dimension 2400 pc both for
working at home. With an ATT wireless dsl modem, they really blaze. At the office my eMac is
cool and my Dell pc with two flat screens are great. Also because IDT is good to me, I have a
Mac laptop and a Gateway laptop.
Working in the Instructional Design & Technology Department has its pluses, but then again Dr.
Childress, Chair, expects us to do work with them. So it goes.
We are using the Intel Teach to the Future program in our beginning IT 325 Instructional
Technology for Educators course. We have expanded the Intel program to include IT 371
Advanced Instructional Technology for Educators course. This course primarily is audio-visual
applications integrated into education. Several faculty in our department (Dr. Childress, Dr.
Seguin, Dr. Kasnic, and myself) became Intel trainers in May, 2001. Also, we are providing
Palm Operating System hand-held computer instruction in campus courses, online courses and
educational training. Dr. Kasnic and I became a Certified Palm Education Training Coordinator
(PETC) in June, 2002.
Political Science interests are in the areas of chemical weapons and warfare (CWW), terrorism,
political cartoons, political role-play simulations, Japanese and Australian politics and
government, American political parties, and American political behavior. I am most interested in
connecting theory and research with practice at all levels of education.
Social Studies Education is my life-long vocation. Patriotism, love of country, and service
lead me to help others focus on service through the social studies.
Being a member of the United Methodist Clergy is my calling.