Meet the Prof

I love my job. I have Attention-Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder, which makes the professorate the ideal job for me. Being a prof allows me to switch between writing, reading, emailing, visiting with students, without anyone noticing that I can't stay on one job very long.

As a teenager, I went to the US Naval Academy where I studied engineering and science. After 8 years as a US Naval officer, I went to graduate school and earned a doctoral degree in Physical Education with a specialty in Exercise Physiology. I have been at the University of Alabama since 1984.

I love to teach, I love to write, I love to argue, I love to study, and I love to do research. If I could just figure a way to avoid grading papers, college teaching would be sheer perfection.

I love being the center of attention which is one reason that I like teaching. I speak around the world. I get invited to consult or lecture on this or that topic in my very narrow specialty. In 2006 I was appointed the first professorship at Alabama named after Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant. I enjoy the opportunities to travel, and I love the latitude I have to work on whatever topic interests me. I even think I’m quite well-paid for what I do.

But, after almost 30 years of college teaching, do you know what I like most about the job? I love the students. Now truthfully, not all students are particularly loveable, but as a group, students are terrific. As a group they are young, eager, interesting, energetic, with tons of potential. I especially like my graduate students because I have more contact with them for longer periods of time.

I have seen my students succeed and fail, marry and divorce, buy houses, give talks, publish papers, graduate and start their own careers. I have had them in my home, taken them to conferences, met their parents, and visited with them in their homes. I have had the rare privilege of working alongside one of my former students with whom I shared the Human Performance Laboratory.

I have former students scattered around the USA and around the world. I love my students, present and past.

As my wife and I look back on my career in the University, we do so with great pleasure. We have been able to see things and do things we never imagined. I have been very grateful to be able to work in a large public university. All the colleagues I have known, all the students I have taught, and all the people of various titles that have taught me a great deal, have added great depth to my life. Often times I think, “God has blessed me above all men.”

My scientific research has impacted my Chrsitian faith. As I have studied physiology, my comprehension of the breadth of our ignorance has humbled me. For all our study of the human body, I am amazed at how little we really understand.

When someone argues they don't believe in God because they can't understand everything about God, or because they have not seen experimental proof, I ask them to apply the same standards to science. We believe a great deal in physiology that we neither understand fully (e.g. fatigue) nor can demonstrate with conclusive proof (i.e. science is never totally conclusive). If we know so very little about the physical body which is so much more easily studied, how can we expect to have full knowledge of spiritual and philosophical issues?

My relationship with God has formed a foundation that has guided my life and actions. I have been fortunate to know Hindus, Muslims, Jews, agnostics, Buddhists, and others. I have tried to learn the best that each had to offer. I have adopted Jewish and Muslim customs, but I have most sought to learn to teach and live like Jesus, the Christ. I am still working on it.

But enough about me . . . What about you? Are you content?

Are you willing to take the risk that God doesn't exist simply because you can't prove him within our limited knowledge and methods? Don’t graduate without considering these questions in life:
Why am I alive?
What am I to do with my life?
What was there before the “BIG BANG”?
What is success? How can I be truly successful?
To be truly educated, you need to seek out these answers. What do you make of folks like me? I’d be happy to help you start your search for answers.