20 Questions: A sketch of Centre professor of education Donna Plummer

RELEASED: January 10, 2008

DANVILLE, KY—1. Position: Associate Professor of Education

2. Hometown: Fort Worth, Texas

3. Career Highlight: The Kirk Award for Excellence in Teaching 1998

4. Favorite College Course: At Centre, EDU 336: "Planning, Classroom Management and Evaluation." This is the course where the elementary education majors truly become a community of learners. In my own education, "Animal Behavior" at the University of Missouri

5. Recent Presentation or Other Professional Project: I'm currently working on a long-term project at Tolliver Elementary involving children's career aspirations.  

6. Family: Husband Mike, a geologist, and stepson Charlie, 24

7. Hobbies: travel, reading, entertaining

8. Most memorable experience of your education: Defending my master's thesis on the Texas alligator lizard in front of a roomful of students and faculty and picking up my dissertation copies from the bindery after finishing my doctoral work.

9. Prized possession: Garnet earrings from my husband, but my favorite non-material possession--a husband who appreciates the demands of a career at Centre (and enjoys "hanging out" with students and faculty!).

10. Favorite book: Too many to choose only one but maybe the two-volume "The Complete Short Stories of W. Somerset Maugham" or "Tender is the Night" by F. Scott Fitzgerald

11. Memorable trip/vacation: Iceland and Greenland in June 2007

12. Favorite movie: "Legends of the Fall"

13. Favorite album: I'm pretty eclectic in my musical tastes, so it's difficult to choose one album. I like most of Barbara Streisand's albums, especially some from the 1960s and 70s; but I also enjoy a good movie soundtrack, as well as Linda Eder, Lyle Lovett and Jimmy Buffett!

14. Favorite artist (of any type): Monet

15. Attitude toward technology: It hates me. But I do realize its benefits (when it works!).

16. Person you most admire: My parents, Tom and Jean Plummer, who model lifelong learning and the doing of "good" deeds as they approach their 80s!

17. Living figure you'd most like to meet: Howard Gardner

18. Historical figure you'd most like to meet: Queen Elizabeth I or Cleopatra, strong women in a world of men

19. What would you be doing if you weren't working at Centre? Corporate training or working for a publisher

20. Describe yourself in three words: Passionate, empathetic, tenacious

- end -

Founded in 1819, Centre College is ranked among the U.S. News top 50 national liberal arts colleges. Consumers Digest ranks Centre No. 1 in educational value among all U.S. liberal arts colleges. Centre alumni, known for their nation-leading loyalty in annual financial support, include two U.S. vice presidents and two Supreme Court justices. For more, visit http://www.centre.edu/web/elevatorspeech/

For news archives go to http://www.centre.edu/web/news/newsarchive.html.