John Pease

Infobox Person
name = John Pease


image_size = 180px
birth_date = birth date|1936|3|08
birth_place = Grand Rapids, Michigan, U.S.
death_date =
death_place =
occupation = Professor
spouse =
parents
children =

Dr. John Allan Pease, Ph.D., is a tenured Professor of Sociology at the University of Maryland, College Park, and an 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.

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 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.

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.

"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 died from lack of studying, which he passes out on occasion during his introductory class. Pease, John (accessed on 31 January, 2008) [http://www.bsos.umd.edu/socy/People/Faculty/CV%2B%2B/SARA_STORY.pdf The True Story of Sara Bellum] ] (Mysteriously, there is actually a marker of "Sara Bellum's" final resting place on campus, though no one has taken responsibility for it.) Pease, John "I'd Rather Be Studying", Commuter Connection Spring, 1994] Naylor, Janet "To Be, or to Study" "The Diamondback" published October 3, 1988] 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 Cohort Program; Town Hall With Undergraduates [http://www.cte.umd.edu/programs/faculty/lilly/pastlillyfellows.html#01-02] ] 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 offical motto for the Campus, which is considered the "flagship".

An Unorthodox Art of Teaching

Because Pease remembers his struggles to obtain an education, he works to assist students who lack equal academic backgrounds by employing a variety of techniques to teach students in his classes. Occasionally, he uses comedy, as in the "Sara Bellum" stories and lectures. He has used topical songs of different genres as students file in for class; protest music, (generally folk music) at the beginning of a lecture on the Great Depression, or artists such as Pete Seeger, on labor unions, 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 introductory Sociology courses to be filled each semester. 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 expands upon the course material with students who are struggling with the material.

Prices of education

The cost of tuition increases yearly at the University of Maryland, as it has in the majority of State Universities. However, 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. Often newer editions of textbooks that are not fundamentally different from past editions are pressed upon Professors for use in the next teaching period. In an article to the "Washington Post" newspaper, he has commented that, "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." Pressler, Margaret Webb Accessed 20 January, 2008) [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30151-2004Sep17.html "The Washington Post" "Textbook Prices On the Rise"] ] 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. Pressler, Margaret Webb [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30151-2004Sep17.html The Washington Post "Textbook Prices On the Rise"] ]

Current Work

Pease still is Professor of Sociology at the University of Maryland, College Park, and contributes to the "University of Maryland Diamondback", with editorials or occasionally, one of his Sara Bellum stories. Recently, Pease was honored with the 2008 University of Maryland System, Board of Regents' Faculty Award for Excellence in Mentoring. Department of Sociology, UMCP [http://www.bsos.umd.edu/socy/People/Faculty/jpease.htm Sociology Department; John Pease] Retrieved 9 June, 2008]

References

Links

* [http://www.bsos.umd.edu/socy/faculty/jpease.html John Pease Faculty Website]