An exceptionally hot summer four decades ago and an outbreak of a deadly disease changed one Oregonian boy's life and the lives of a generation of UVic math students forever. Dr. Bruce Johnson (Math & Statistics) grew up on a turkey farm in Oregon and always assumed he'd take over the farm from his father. It was a hard life, he acknowledged, but one that gave him great satisfaction. In fact, he was so sure that he wanted to major in poultry husbandry at Oregon State University and become a turkey farmer, that after completing Grade 10 math, which was all that was required for the course, he dropped the subject. Then a fluky summer heat wave killed almost 800 of the birds and two years later ornithosis, a pneumonia-like disease, devastated the entire breeder flock. Johnson went looking for a new career.
"I decided I couldn't handle all the uncertainty in farming," he recalls. "I was all geared up to farm, but these disasters changed my mind."
Not equipped with the math courses he needed for non-farming programs at university, Johnson brought out his Grades 9 and 10 math texts and crammed for the entrance exam. He breezed through it and immediately embarked on a one-year remedial math course. After graduating from Oregon State University with an honours degree in math, he started a three-year stint in the air force, which took him away from new wife, Joan, to such remote spots as Johnston Island, 800 miles west of Hawaii and the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. Upon his release from the service, he began his PhD at the University of Oregon while Joan taught school. Four years later he took a one-year teaching position at Oregon State in the statistics department, but with no applied statistics in his background, longed for a position in mathematics.
Enter Bob Odeh (Math & Statistics). The two were attending a meeting of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics in Las Vegas in 1971 and Johnson shared his dilemma with Odeh, who had recently taken a position at UVic. Odeh suggested he apply for a position at the young university. Johnson jumped at the chance to return to the city where he and Joan had honeymooned years before.
The rest, as they say, is history. Johnson has been on faculty at UVic for 25 years and recently was named the teacher of the year in the faculty of science.
He is thrilled by the award (although he modestly suggested that Joan should get it. "Now she's a great teacher") and humbled by the accolades his colleagues and students have given him.
"He is a better overall teacher than me," wrote Dr. Bill Pfaffenberger, chair of the department, "and is the most dedicated, consistent teacher of mathematics and statistics I have ever encountered."
"I consider myself a reasonably good teacher," echoed Dr. Ian Putnam, an associate professor in the department, "but Dr. Johnson is outstanding...I believe he is the best teacher in our department."
His students agree, giving him first class marks in effectiveness, availability and course rating. "Dr. Johnson never turns a student away, even if it isn't his office hours and he helps me in other courses that he isn't teaching," wrote one student. "Dr. Johnson cares. He wants everybody who takes a class from him to learn the material and appreciate it," wrote another.
"I do care," Johnson says matter-of-factly. "I really do care how well the students do."
He admits he's not a natural lecturer, but even as a student his ability to explain difficult concepts was far above those of his peers. "When we were in a tutorial and I thought of a way to tackle a problem, everyone would say, ÔShut up. Johnson has an idea," he laughs.
He spends hours preparing and organizing his classes and the discipline he learned as a young farm boy with early morning and late afternoon chores and weekends spent working the farm has served him well in his chosen career.
"I spend a lot of time developing support materials so students know what is expected of them." He prepares an assignment for each class and expects students to have it completed for the next class. He begins each lesson with a question period and review, then tackles the new material. He tries to finish his classes five minutes early so he can spend time informally answering students' questions. He concentrates on undergraduate courses (his classes vary in size from 142 to 179 students) where he thinks he has the most to offer. About half of his publications are on undergraduate subjects.
Fit and active at 56, Johnson swims regularly and is a do-it-yourselfer around the house. He winces at the suggestion of early retirement as he has much to do before that day comes, including taking on additional courses.
In a recent letter to Pfaffenberger, Johnson acknowledged the department's shortage of faculty and the University's shortage of funds. "I have decided to volunteer to teach an extra section of STAT 260 in the spring...Please consider this as part of my normal teaching load." Students of STAT 260 don't know how lucky they are, but they'll find out. In the meantime, this humble, unassuming teacher will continue to make math come alive for those lucky enough to sit in his class.
Teaching is a game, Johnson believes, and "if I can get students to work at it regularly, to believe that there is an easy way to do things, then I win. I win when they do well."