From office to classroom, the Price is right

Jerry Price looks at his watch. It’s almost 7 p.m. He walks into a classroom, sets down his briefcase and starts to take roll.

It’s a weekly ritual. Every Tuesday night, Dean Price becomes Professor Price.

Price, vice chancellor for student affairs and dean of students, began teaching Leadership in Student Affairs (LEAD 395) when Chapman asked him to pass on his personal experiences in the field.

“I think students come to Chapman because it’s not this big, monolithic place,” Price said. “They can take a class with the chancellor, take a class with the president, take a class with the dean of students, and I think that’s a good thing.”

This semester marks the third time Price has taught this course at Chapman, but it is not his first time sharing knowledge about the subject. He has a Ph.D. in the field, taught a similar course at the graduate level at another university and said he has been a practitioner in the field for 28 years.

But at first, he was worried taking on professorial responsibilities wouldn’t fit in with his already busy Chapman schedule.

“I almost didn’t teach it originally because I was concerned, because of the other demands in my life, that I wouldn’t be able to make it as rigorous (as it needed to be),” Price said.

Once he committed to teaching the course, Price said he decided to focus the course on out-of-classroom experiences he deals with at Chapman.

“I try to make (the course) a little bit broader and more about the leadership of colleges and universities,” Price said.

He also tries to keep high-tech teaching methods out of the classroom, he said.

“I don’t want to just go in there and bring in PowerPoints of things,” Price said. “To me, it’s about helping students understand that it’s using their own educational experiences to help them make connections between what they’re experiencing and how the higher education administration is structured.”

Junior psychology major Hannah Roberts took the course and said she saw another side of Price.

“It was interesting having him as a professor because most people only see him in his dean of students role,” Roberts said.

Price said he does not approach students differently in his classroom than in his office.

“I would be surprised if (students) saw any difference whatsoever,” Price said. “I know that there’s not a switch that goes from me being Dean Price, and then Professor Price.”

Although the class has just begun this semester, junior strategic and corporate communications major Kean Stancil said he is already pleased with Price’s class.

“He is very thorough and knowledgeable,” Stancil said. “He knows what he’s talking about, especially in student affairs.”

Senior biology and pre-med major Krish Rangarajan said he took the class to complete his leadership and communications cluster, and specifically because Price is the professor.

“It’s a very open class,” Rangarajan said. “Some classes are sometimes too structured, but this class is very discussion-based and you get to know your classmates.”

The class will be offered every spring.

Photo courtesy Pixabay.