Thrill of discovery

              , . Ja~s Ojeda I J.~e COURIER
, Dr. John Gregory, professor of communication, was.named the best teacher of the year .. .
Thrill of discovery
Dr. John Gregory jnspires students, wins Risser
. (!ov.Yf.[J' 5 I 10 I q 0 . '
When Dr. John F. Gregory,
professor of communication,
took a temporary job at PCC in
January of 1963, he thought it
would just be that, temporary.
Now 27 years later, Gregory
still fmds himself working for
PCC, where he teaches speech
and teleVision criticism classes.
In those 27 years, Gregory
has done it all. He has been a
Greg(ry is a giver. He knows
that. His students know that
And his colleagues know that
·On Monday, however,
Gregory tOok on a new role.
Instead of being the giver, he
became the receiver when he
was named teacher of the year
and awarded the 1990 Ray Risser
Outstanding Teacher Award.
· The Risser Award is the most
college radio station general prestigious honor a faculty
manager. He has been a tele- member can garner.
communication department Immediately after he ap­chair.
He has been a professor. proached the lectern, the five­He
has been a friend. And in time Risser Award nominee
those 27 years, Gregory has . became the giver once again.
shared his talents, knowl~ge He said that because his stu~
and animated sense of humor dents deserved the award more
with hundreds of students who than he did, he would be estab­have
since moved on to be- lishing a scholarship using the
come successful in their cho- $1,000 he received from the
sen fields. Risser f~ily.
"I have had a love affair
with my students for many, many
years," he said. Teaching, he .
says, means giving students a
taste of the thrill of discovery.
''That means helping them push
back the frontiers of discovery
instead of being enveloped by
it," he said.
Amidsi the serious and for­mal
mood in the room, Gregory
managed to use his sense of
humor to entenain his colleagues
when he jokingly told Dr. Jack
Scott, superintendent-president,
that since he has been selected
as Risser recipient, he cannot .
be nominated anymore, which
means "I don't have to try harder
anymore.''
But seriously, he said, "this
Please see G~EGORY,
· page 6