Jeff Gordon is BGSU's 2006 Master Teacher

BOWLING GREEN, O.—The students have spoken, and Dr. Jeffrey Gordon, an associate professor of geography, is their choice as the 2006 Bowling Green State University Master Teacher. Because students choose the recipient, the award is considered the highest among faculty honors at BGSU.

Sponsored by the Student Alumni Connection, the award recognizes faculty who demonstrate special care for their students. Recipients are presented an engraved plaque and $1,000.

Gordon's teaching is described as “interactive, honest and sincere.” His style of instruction reflects his belief that “the most important aspect of education at this time is to facilitate the changing face of teaching.” Holding the belief that students can learn much from one another, he encourages their interaction—a way of learning that is quickly evolving from what he knew as a student, he says.

Infusing students with his enthusiasm for geography, Gordon is a professor who goes above and beyond what is expected, his nominators wrote, adding “he genuinely cares about us and our goals.”

Gordon, who has taught at BGSU since 1980, is among modern geographers who are interested not just in mountains and maps, but in how people fill, use and occupy space.

His wide-ranging interest in geography has taken him in some unusual directions. He has been quoted in the news media for his study of rural mailboxes and what they reveal about the owners, for example. He has also studied flea markets and bumper stickers—part of the “cultural landscape.”

Gordon earned his Ph.D. in geography from Syracuse University in 1978 and his master's degree in geography with a minor in anthropology from Pennsylvania State University in 1970. He received a bachelor's degree in geography with a minor in anthropology from the State University of New York at Binghamton in 1967.

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(Posted November 13, 2006)