Collegian T he Cameron University
29 Hackler Award Recipient www.aggiecentral.com
Monday, November 9, 2015
C
ameron University Presents
Dr. Gary Buckley
th
Vicky Smith
Managing Editor
@pinkwritinglady
Volume 93 Issue 8
students on campus was that this was a pretty common practice for him.” One such student whom Buckley has helped is Alexander Rivas, a senior chemistry major with an emphasis in health professions.
At 7 p.m. on Nov. 2 in the McCasland Ballroom, President “There’s a certain sense of John McArthur presented the 29th Harold and Elizabeth Hackler Award for Teaching Excellence to Dr. Gary Buckley in the Department of Chemistry, Physics and Engineering. somebody actually graduates, and you go back, Buckley received a plaque, a $2,000 stipend and an additional $1,500 for professional development. and you think about when they were The awards reception began with dinner and a welcome from McArthur, who said the Hackler Award is Cameron’s highest faculty honor. Vanderslice welcomed Rivas “It was established in 1996 thanks to a financial gift from the - Dr. Gary Buckley to the stage next, where he Hacklers, the Halliburton Foundation, the McCasland Foundation Chemistry Professor introduced Buckley. and then finally from the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher “I’m honored to represent all the Cameron students that have been Education to make the financial resources available,” McArthur said. He said this year was the first time for the awards ceremony to be inf luenced by Dr. Buckley,” Rivas said. “Dr. Buckley is always there when you need him, and he’s always there to give you great advice.” held in Lawton. Rivas said in the spring, he was offered an internship at the “The ceremony’s been held in Duncan so that they [Hacklers] National Institute of Health in Maryland, but he was could attend,” McArthur said. “We lost Harold Hackler scared to go because he did not know anyone. in the past year. … We will miss him greatly.” “Dr. Buckley brought me into his office,” According to McArthur, he learned two lessons Rivas said. “He sat me down, and he said, from the Hacklers. ‘You’d be crazy not to go.’ After two hours of “First, teaching and learning are something that conversation about how many opportunities I we do with our students and not to our students,” would be missing in Maryland, I decided McArthur said. “Second, we have to take care to go. and respect the full lives of our students.” “It was one of the best decisions I’ve Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. ever made in my life, and I’m always in Ronna Vanderslice took the podium to debt to you, Dr. Buckley, my mentor recognize past Hackler Award recipients who and my friend.” were present, as well as to thank Buckley for Buckley, who has been at Cameron tutoring her daughter. continuously since 1986, said he is “Most of us want only the best for our own honored to receive the Hackler Award. children,” Vanderslice said, “so this year, when “In my previous life, I actually was involved my daughter got behind in her classes due to a in the awards ceremony,” Buckley said. “I got family emergency, I called on one of the best to meet the Hacklers. … They put together I knew – tonight’s recipient. this award to recognize what they thought was “I’m so appreciative that he was able outstanding teaching at Cameron, and so I think it’s to tutor her for hours on Saturday important that we keep that focus.” afternoon in his office to Buckley said he can remember the first time he help her catch up. But, taught a class. what I found when “They said, ‘OK, you can teach this talking to other class,’ so I walked in,” Buckley said, “and I opened my mouth, and everybody started writing stuff down. I was terrified because I thought, ‘Uh oh. They’re going to be writing all of this stuff down all day long, and I don’t know what I’m going to say at this point.’” Although Buckley knows what he will say for each class period now, he said each semester and each day holds its own surprises. “The classes have personalities,” Buckley said. “What’s kind of fun is walking into the classroom for the first time and looking out there, realizing there’s a whole new crop. They’re going to be different than any class you had before.” While in the classroom, Buckley enjoys interacting with students, as well as teaching them about numbers. He said it is fun to watch and help students grow overtime. “Some of it’s an academic growth,” he said, “but some it’s personality growth and a maturity growth. … I think one of Cameron’s strengths is that we take students sometimes who don’t think they even belong in college that came and tried it out. By the time they get done, they’re competitive.” He said he feels a sense of satisfaction when he watches students graduate.
accomplishment or satisfaction if
first here and what they’ve done.”
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