Professor Chose the 'Whole Package' as Career
Press Release - March 25, 2004
Leif Jensen, director of the Population Research Institute and professor of rural sociology and demography, said he didn't choose teaching per se as profession.
"I chose academe," he said. "Teaching is an important part of that. I see teaching as a part of a bundle of interrelated things that we do."
"I guess I chose the whole package - teaching, research, service - as a career."
Jensen is one of the many University professors who combine research and teaching responsibilities. The professor, who has a reduced class load due to his administrative and research duties, teaches one class in the fall and one in the spring. His research interests include social stratification, with emphasis on the issues of poverty and inequality.
"Almost all my work touches on social or economic inequality in one way or another," he said. "I do research on rural poverty, underemployment, informal work, immigrants and their children, and other areas."
Jensen, who was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Bergen, Norway, in 1997, received an Award for Excellence in Instruction from the Rural Sociological Society in 2001 and the Graduate Faculty Teaching Award from the University in 2003. He is the author of The New Immigration: Implications for Poverty and Public Assistance Utilization. His many articles and presentations include studies of immigration issues, welfare and public assistance programs, trends in racial and ethnic inequality, and poverty issues.
This semester, he is teaching a graduate class in "Sociology and Demography of Poverty in the United States." Among the class requirements are a term paper and weekly reading commentaries that are posted to a listserv for the class to read and discuss. Jensen uses those commentaries to develop discussion points for each session.
"The idea is not regurgitation, just a synopsis to get the discussion ball rolling," he said.
In Jensen's classroom, participants are seated around a conference table littered with notebooks, water bottles and food. Students are armed with pens and notes. The atmosphere is casual, but respectful. Jensen passes out handouts and assigns each student to research a Centre County social services agency and make a report the following week. Students break in with procedural questions about the assignment. Then Jensen lays out what he wants to cover in the class. He reads a series of discussion questions, a few of which students had posted in response papers on the class's listserv. Listening to himself read the questions, Jensen decides to dump one of his own and the class bursts into laughter. "That one's really weak," he said. From there, discussion begins on the session's topic.
Rachel Durham, a graduate student in sociology and demography, said she took Jensen's class because she needed to fulfill a requirement and it would help her with her dissertation. "It's definitely broadened the way I think about poverty and how it is applied in research," she said.
The professor attempts to integrate his research with his class by drawing on topics for his course that are substantively aligned with what he is investigating.
"To the extent I can, I draw on my own work in class," he said. "I try to get the students to integrate what's being taught with their own research." He encourages students to make term paper assignments on a topic that will be of use to them outside of class, whether it's a literature review that can contribute to a thesis or something that they can turn into publications.
"I like to get the author of one of the books we read on the phone so that the class can have a Q-and-A with the author," he said. "This semester we'll be interviewing Sharon Hays of the University of Virginia who wrote a book titled, Flat Broke with Children."
Indeed, a recent session contained material that was leading up to the author's presentation.
Jensen said he liked to challenge his students. "I like to stage debates, often forcing people to advocate positions which I know they disagree with."
The most rewarding aspects about his work are interacting with students and colleagues, and the freedom to tackle important research questions. The students have "taught me a lot about the world and their own societies and cultures," he said. "Sometimes from the students, I'll learn new ideas that I hadn't been previously exposed to or learn more about statistical techniques they're using in their own work."
Jensen's philosophy of teaching is twofold: First, he said he wants to expose students to cutting-edge research and new ideas about a given topic.
"I want them to come away from the courses really knowing the topic through and through," he said.
Secondly, Jensen said he wants his students to have an appreciation for different viewpoints. His classes include readings that cut across disciplinary boundaries so that his students are exposed to topics from sociological, demographic, economic, geographic and psychological perspectives.
"I've learned that what works best is to develop a classroom atmosphere in which people feel relaxed enough and sort of confident of one another that folks feel free to express what's on their mind," he said.
"What I have observed over the years is that Leif is extremely interested in, enthusiastic about and knowledgeable about his subjects," said Stephen Smith, department head. "He very much communicates his enthusiasm and interest to his students, and wants them to feel the same way. Also, he is thoroughly prepared when he goes to the classroom."
Smith remarked on the size and thoroughness of Jensen's reading lists. "They're huge," he said, adding that students are undaunted by the scope of the material.
"They look at it as a reflection of his commitment to the course and their education, and certainly as an example of his knowledge of the subject matter. They realize that they will have to put in an effort in class to not look too bad in comparison."
Although Jensen has been teaching about 16 years, 15 of those at the University, he said he still can get skittish facing a class.
"Anyone who takes this business seriously is also anxious that things go well, so there is that certain nervous energy that keeps things exciting," he said.
This article courtesy of Penn State's Department of Public Information
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