Meet Anna Penner, Whitworth’s new visiting assistant professor of sociology, who teaches courses such as Sociology of Gender, Sociology of Health & Disability, and Sociology of Marriage.
Q. What drew you to your academic discipline?
A. As a third culture kid, I was always curious why different cultures valued different ideals. In sociology, I get to study why people do what they do and how to make changes to benefit those on the margins of society.
Q. Tell us about a fun class you teach
A. I try to make all my courses as fun as possible, even statistics. Some activities in that course include learning about sampling by eating Skittles or M&Ms, playing Charty Party (which is a game like Apples to Apples but with charts) to learn about types of variables, or competing with classmates to learn about two-sample t-tests. I know most of that sounds like gibberish, which is why I try to make it as engaging as possible.
Q. What advice would you give to a student who’s interested in studying sociology at Whitworth?
A. I would suggest getting started on the statistics and research methods courses as soon as possible and then joining a professor on a research project. A lot of great learning happens in the classroom, but there is nothing like mentorship in research!
JUST FOR FUN…
Q. What might your students be surprised to learn about you?
A. I used to ride a motorcycle.
Q. What’s the most unusual item in your office?
A. An archery target that I use to engage my statistics students in active learning (we use bean bags, though, not bows and arrows!).
Q. What’s your go-to podcast?
A. “The Tennis Podcast.”
Q. If you could spend a day as any fictional character, who would it be?
A. As a mom of young kids, I’d be thrilled to be Sleeping Beauty for a day. But without a prince coming to wake me up! Just as much sleep as possible.
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