Faculty Spotlight: Gordon Sutherlin
Last week I was able to catch up with one of our Professors of Education - Dr. Gordon Sutherlin. I have worked with Gordon on technology workshops but had never really known much about him besides his incredible knowledge of technology - read on to see some of the things I learned about this guy!
Me: How many years have you been in the field of education?
Me: How many years have you been in the field of education?
Gordon: About 38
Me: What made you decide to become a teacher?
G: I don't really have a great answer for that. All of my friends were teachers and I was a math major that needed a job so I decided to get my license and start teaching too. I’ve been teaching ever since!
Me: What is your favorite thing about your job?
G: I like the variety. Technology is always changing and I like change.
Me: What is your favorite class/subject to teach?
G: Anything to do with technology!
Me: What’s the funniest thing that’s ever happened to you in the classroom?
G: I’m not so sure this story is so much funny as it is scary but it was definitely memorable. I was teaching a chemistry lab and had the students separated into two rooms. In one room they were doing an experiment that involved intense heat and in the other room, they were experimenting with some volatile chemicals. One of the students from the first room had warmed up a glass tube as he was instructed and it broke (as it was supposed to under that much heat). However, the student wasn’t sure what he should do with the broken tube after the fact and for some reason decided to walk into the other room to use their trash can. Given all the volatile chemicals in the air in that room, when he threw the tube in the trash can there was a mini explosion and paper towels and trash were flying everywhere! Nobody was hurt but it was definitely a memorable experience!
Me: What do you like to do in your spare time?
G: I like woodworking and farming. I have a tree farm and I just recently built a cabin on some wooded property north of here.
Me: If you could travel anywhere in the world all expenses paid, where would you go?
G: Probably Alaska. I have done a lot of traveling but that’s one of the places I haven’t been to yet and I would love to go.
Me: What is your favorite season and why?
G: Both Fall & Spring – not too hot, not too cold. As a farm boy, springtime means planting and just a general rebirth of the earth too.
Me: If you could meet anyone in history, who would it be?
G: Abe Lincoln. He was a farm boy that made good. He was honest and he was a politician… and those don’t normally go together.
Me: What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?
G: This is not so much advice as it was a lesson learned; when it comes to churches, great programs and great buildings don’t matter. It’s the people that matter!
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