Chemeketa Voices
History on CPR:
Traci Hodgson
In the late 1800s, the leader of a Holy Rollers religious sect in Corvallis told his flock that God was calling upon them to move to the Oregon Coast and live in the buff. That’s buff, not bluff.
Sounds a little cold, doesn’t it?
It’s not unusual for Chemeketa Community College professor Traci Hodgson to begin her history classes with tales of odd personalities and striking events, she’s even brought a skateboard to class to make a point. Her points, however, often transcend the events and people themselves.
“What I do in my classroom is identical to what they do at OSU and U of O, but what I do differently is I spend time talking about other skills that will help students throughout college courses,” said Hodgson. “Like critical thinking, writing, and even note-taking.”
Take the skateboard, for instance. The skateboard was merely a prop to get her students thinking about the bigger picture, and what earning a degree means for the rest of their lives. Hodgson showed a video of a skater doing a trick, and asked the class what it would take for her to be able to imitate the rider in the video.
“With a degree, students become members of the educated elite and they're doing some of the most complex things the human brain can do, but that's hard and it takes practice. Like skateboarding,” she said.
T. Jefferson
As a child, Hodgson’s father would take her family to historical sites at the end of the harvest season.
“I grew up on a wheat farm in central Kansas and the trips were our big escapes,” said Hodgson. “It brought history to life for me.”
When it came time to decide on a career, she chose history as her major with the intent of becoming a college professor at a four-year institution where she could perform research. She earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Kansas and a doctorate from Boston University with focuses on gender and religion.
She applied to colleges and universities all over the country, but didn’t discover Chemeketa until she moved to Portland with her husband for a new job.
“I applied at Chemeketa because it was down the road. I didn't know much about community colleges at the time, but I was impressed,” Hodgson said.
From the start, Hodgson was determined to make the classroom experience different for her students. She would require one-on-one meetings near the beginning of each term.
“It started out simply as a way of trying get better work out of them, but then I realized it was a way of making the college experience more personal,” said Hodgson.
Still, she struggled to find ways to make history come alive in the same way the childhood trips had done for her.
“One day, I just told them that Thomas Jefferson would be visiting class,” said Hodgson.
The next day, Hodgson dressed period clothing and arrived in character as the founding father.
“I’d recently done the same thing for one of my daughter’s classes. It turned out to be pretty successful.” she said.
Since that initial experiment, Hodgson has dressed as a revolutionary war heroine and writer Mercy Otis Warren. It also opened the door for more experiments, like the skateboard.
Finding her place
In her nine years with Chemeketa, Hodgson has come to believe that this is where she was being called all along.
“There’s nothing elite about Chemeketa at all. I'm touching the lives of ordinary everyday people and that wouldn't be the case if I was at a large university,” said Hodgson.
She’s also found that teaching can be as rewarding an art as any involving paints, pencils or instruments.
“The best professors are artists in the way they approach teaching, students appreciate that creativity and that you’ll put yourself out there to possibly fail,” she said.
In retrospect, Hodgson landed far afield of where she thought she was headed, but she wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Now that I’m here, I think this is the best place to be,” she said.
By Eric A. Howald. Have a great Chemeketa story? Send us an e-mail.
Updated October 2, 2007 by Marketing and Student Recruitment.