{"id":4794,"date":"2013-02-20T11:47:48","date_gmt":"2013-02-20T16:47:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/?p=4794"},"modified":"2013-02-20T15:14:17","modified_gmt":"2013-02-20T20:14:17","slug":"retiring-sensenig-looks-toward-a-new-chapter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/archives\/4794","title":{"rendered":"Retiring: Sensenig looks toward a new chapter"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Emily Domayer–<\/strong>It is a Friday afternoon, at precisely 2:10 p.m. Larry Sensenig answers a student\u2019s question about Premack\u2019s Principle. \u201cI call it \u201cGrandma\u2019s rule: If you eat your broccoli, you get dessert. A subject is motivated to do something in order to get what they want. How does this relate to what your rats have been experiencing?\u201d<\/p>\n

Sensenig\u2019s Learning and Memory psychology class of about 20 students is reviewing questions to prepare for their upcoming rat paper. The students participate in labs, where they have been given the responsibility to practice classical and operational conditioning techniques on white lab rats.<\/p>\n

Surprisingly, very few students have their laptops open. Most of them take hand written notes. The few students who are using their computers are actually on task.<\/p>\n

Sensenig has mastered the art of keeping his students captivated and not distracted by their computers and cell phones. One way he does this is in his use of humor. While giving examples of Hull\u2019s Drive Reduction Theory, he lists basic drives that people have: food, water, shelter\u2026..sex. \u201cCollege students don\u2019t have those, do they?\u201d he asks with a chuckle. The class giggles in response.<\/p>\n

Sensenig is quite tall, standing about 6\u201d2, with gray hair sprinkled with white. He has a white goatee, a gray moustache and very dark, thick eyebrows. In the pocket of his collared, button-down shirt is a pen. He wears glasses, khaki pants with a brown belt and dark brown shoes. If I didn\u2019t already know who Larry was, I would assume he was a doctor rather than a professor.<\/p>\n

Asked about the challenges he faces in teaching, Sensenig says that technology is a big one. \u201cIt\u2019s been hard to keep up with advancements in technology. There are generational differences; I\u2019m not as comfortable with technology like Powerpoint and Moodle as the younger professors or my students are. I don\u2019t think technology is the secret to being a good teacher.\u00a0I don\u2019t like to confront students about inappropriate use of technology.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never come to work thinking, \u2018Oh, I hate my job,\u2019 Sensenig says. He didn\u2019t set out to become a teacher. When Sensenig was an undergraduate at Bradley University, he wanted to go to graduate school for psychology. \u201cThere were two different paths I could take: either do psychology research, or teach psychology. I was told that teaching was a lot more satisfying,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Sensenig is now in his 39th year of teaching; he began at Morningside in 1974. \u201cI was very nervous on my first day of teaching, especially when I was meeting students,\u201d he says. \u201cMy favorite part of my job is watching students grow in their knowledge and expertise, and to realize I\u2019ve been a part of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sensenig\u2019s love of psychology goes beyond the classroom. He has been the faculty advisor for Psi Chi, the national honors society for psychology since 1975. Morningside\u2019s chapter began in 1939 and was the 34th in the nation. \u201cIt gets the students active and enthused. It\u2019s the highest undergraduate association for psychology.\u201d<\/p>\n

Psych Follies, a psychology group exclusive to Morningside, started in 1993. \u201cPsych Follies is run by the students who are \u201cmovers and shakers\u201d. It is sponsored by the Psychology Department. Students and faculty make light hearted fun of each other,\u201d Sensenig says.<\/p>\n

Jessica Pleuss, a 2002 Morningside graduate, is a psychology professor who is now a colleague of Sensenig\u2019s. I ask her what the biggest difference is between being his advisee and being one of his fellow professors. \u201cI call him \u2018Larry\u2019 instead of \u201cDr. Sensenig,\u201d she says. Pleuss recalls a time when she was a student. \u201cIt was his birthday. I found a picture of him when he had just started back in the 70\u2032s. He had big hair–a fro! It was not flattering,\u201d she says, laughing. She brought the picture to a Psych Follies event. Sensenig thought it was funny.<\/p>\n

Another way Sensenig defies the stereotyped \u201cprofessor\u201d is that he avoids using a monotone voice. He speaks smoothly, with good pitch variations. His voice conveys the enthusiasm and passion he has for his students\u2019 learning and the subject he teaches. After the class is done, I speak with Victoria Dentler, from Omaha, whose rat\u2019s name is Cheesy. \u201cHe cares about us. He connects to his students,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Kelsey Strohbehn, who named her rat \u201cRatatouille\u201d, agrees. \u201cHe\u2019s a pretty fun professor. You can tell he really loves the rats.\u201d<\/p>\n

I ask Sensenig about his plans for retirement. \u201cI want to travel, especially in the fall. I want to go to Louisiana, London and go scuba diving. John Pinto and I go fishing in the boundary waters. Maybe we\u2019ll\u00a0go in September instead of June.\u201d I ask him about what he will miss most about his job. \u201cI\u2019ll miss social interaction with colleagues and students. I\u2019ll miss coming to work every day. It\u2019s an important part of one\u2019s life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sensenig\u00a0will miss\u00a0the joys of his work, but he looks forward to retirement with a positive attitude. \u201cI see retirement as writing a new chapter in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Emily Domayer–It is a Friday afternoon, at precisely 2:10 p.m. Larry Sensenig answers a student\u2019s question about Premack\u2019s Principle. \u201cI call it \u201cGrandma\u2019s rule: If you eat your broccoli, you get dessert. A subject is motivated to do something in order to get what they want. How does this relate to what your rats…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":80,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4287],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/80"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4794"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4794\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4796,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4794\/revisions\/4796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}