At 3 p.m. Tuesday afternoon, several students gathered in a classroom at the University of Arkansas Community College at Batesville were using instruments to peer into each other’s ears. Vernon Hoffman, a biology faculty member at the school, stood at the front of the classroom supervising the activity.
As the students of the human anatomy and physiology class looked at each other’s eardrums, Hoffman answered questions and joked with them. One student told him she had stopped watching Grey’s Anatomy in order to come to class, indicating how important the class was to her. The end of class sneaked up on everyone, and one student remarked how quickly the time had gone. Hoffman looked up and said, “Time flies when you’re having fun.”
Hoffman was recently selected as the 2015 Outstanding Faculty Member at UACCB, an honor that is given to one faculty member each year through a selection process that includes students and peers.
To select the Outstanding Faculty Member, students and faculty nominate faculty members for the award; then a committee composed of faculty members reviews the nominations. That committee then makes a selection from the nominees and forwards its top three selections to the chancellor, who makes the final decision.
“I was very surprised when I found out I was chosen. I was very shocked,” Hoffman said. “The kind of courses I teach are not the kind of courses people often get really excited about taking. A lot of times they wait until the very last semester to take that science course because they’re dreading it. For a lot of people, they’re difficult classes. We have very rigorous standards for our science courses.”
Hoffman grew up in Bay, just southeast of Jonesboro. After graduating from Bay High School, Hoffman attended Arkansas State University to work toward a bachelor’s degree in wildlife management and ecology.
“I enjoyed hunting and fishing. I thought it would be great to get a job doing the things I liked to do already,” he said. “I knew that in that field, you’re more competitive with a master’s degree. Just a bachelor’s doesn’t get you very far. Before I got done, I knew I was going to go for my master’s, still planning on doing wildlife management.”
It was while he was working on his master’s degree in biology that Hoffman got a taste of teaching. He was asked to teach some biology labs as a teaching assistant. He said he really enjoyed the teaching but didn’t think too much about it.
After finishing his master’s degree, he had a hard time finding a job in wildlife management. He got a job as a research assistant in ASU’s biology department.
“I fed and watered the plants and the rats and cleaned the cages and took care of whatever else needed to be done,” he said. “I also prepped some of the courses, and in doing that I realized how much I missed teaching. I actually went to the department chair and asked if I could teach a class for the fun of it. He told me I wouldn’t get paid for it, but it didn’t matter. I missed teaching.”
Hoffman was a research assistant — and volunteer teacher — for a couple years when he saw a job opening in the biology department at UACCB. He jumped at the opportunity to apply and was soon in the classroom full time.
“I called on a Wednesday to ask about an interview and got a call back on Friday asking me to come in for an interview on Monday,” he said. “I went in for my interview on Monday, they offered me the job on Wednesday, and classes started on Monday. It was a very, very rapid change in my life.”
Hoffman teaches biology for majors and nonmajors; human anatomy and physiology 1 and 2; essentials of anatomy and physiology; botany; zoology; and field techniques. He said he loves being able to see students learn in his classes.
“The interaction with the students is what drew me to teaching,” he said. “Getting to know them, learning a little bit about them and where they’re from and what their stories are, and then to see them come to understand and even enjoy the subject matter that I’m trying to teach is very rewarding.”
Outside of school, Hoffman is very involved with his family and his church, Faith of the Apostles Church in Walnut Ridge, where Hoffman serves as a deacon and the church treasurer. He met his wife, Lydia, the summer after he graduated from high school, and they were married four years later. The couple have four sons, and Lydia home-schools the boys.
“We feel like we’ve got their math and science covered on my end and their language and social studies with her,” Hoffman said. “Between the two of us, we’ve got it down.”
The Hoffman family likes to travel, and their journeys are often used as teaching
opportunities for the boys.
“[When we went on a trip out west], my wife had each of the boys pick out a place. That child researched that place, and that child was the expert. They basically acted as tour guides,” Hoffman said. “Each one got to shine in their own way.”
Whether it’s in the classroom or on the road with his family, Hoffman said he loves to teach.
“There are few things in life that are as rewarding as seeing someone get excited about what they’re learning,” he said. “It’s a really good feeling. It’s addictive.”
Staff writer Angela Spencer can be reached at (501) 244-4307 or aspencer@arkansasonline.com.