Jack Kern, teaching professor in the Department of Health, Human Performance, and Recreation, was honored by the Teaching and Faculty Support Center as the March Wally Cordes Chair Speaker. He was chosen because of his student-centered approach to teaching, his strong advocacy for creating equity on campus for non-tenure track faculty and his commitment to the scholarship of teaching and learning.
This honor is named after University Professor Emeritus Wally Cordes who was known for his student-focused teaching. Cordes taught a large lecture class and would invite students to come and rock in his rocking chair and to tell them about themselves. “Because Kern is very approachable to students, he easily makes meaningful connections,” commented Lynn Meade, co-director of the TFSC. “It is this attribute of his that really stood out. In addition, he has worked tirelessly to help other faculty on campus learn and grow as teachers which, in turn, impacts even more students.”
Recipients of this honor get to keep the rocking chair in their office for a month. In addition, they get to give a talk on a teaching subject of their choosing. Kern used the opportunity to speak about the scholarship of teaching and learning. He shared with participants how by undertaking systematic inquiry about student learning teachers can impact their students. He encouraged participants to attend teaching conferences in order to learn more about the science of teaching, and he showed them how to locate grants to help them travel. In all ways, Kern seeks to encourage teachers both those he meets in his classes and those colleagues he works with around campus.
Kern started his career at U of A in 1996 and currently teaches graduate courses in the online Master of Education in Physical Education program and supervises undergraduate students during their teaching internship. He helped pioneer a study abroad program to Ireland, where he creates opportunities for education students to interact with the Irish school system. His excellence as a teacher has been widely recognized on campus and in the state. He won the Arkansas Higher Educator of the Year by the Arkansas Association of Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and he was inducted into the prestigious Teaching Academy in 2012. Because of his commitment to teaching, Kern was appointed to serve as TFSC co-director from 2016-19 and then again 2020-21.
The recording of this event will be made available on Scholarworks.
CONTACTS
Lori Libbert, HEI Program coordinator
Wally Cordes Teaching and Faculty Support Center
479-575-3222, tfsc@uark.edu
