Most college students have had to suffer through boring class lectures that inspire naps, but Evan Adelson’s sociology class at San Diego Mesa College is one that breaks the educational norm.
For those of you who haven’t had a chance to meet Dr. Evan Adelson and the amazing personality behind him, this is your opportunity to find out who he really is.
He’s been teaching at San Diego Mesa College since 1998. During his college years he said nothing was practical, in fact everything was about the liberal arts.
“The first course that meant anything to me was a political theory course,” Adelson said.
He became very interested in Plato and Aristotle as each had a vision on how society should operate. Since this appealed his interests he thought he’d major in political theory. Yet, he realized that he was tired of learning how the world ought to be and became more interested in learning how the world actually is.
“I had taken sociology my freshman year,” said Adelson. “But it meant nothing to me. It went so far [over] my head, but my junior year I went back to it and declared a major in sociology.”
After graduating, he wanted to be a “do-gooder,” someone who makes the world a better place. With this in mind he traveled to Washington D.C. and found that the jobs that involved making the world a better place paid almost nothing.
Because of his many student loans and school debts he decided to go back to graduate school. More education meant better possibilities in the job market.
“I had no intention on being a college professor,” said Adelson, “and actually a really good friend of mine asked me a good question when I was trying to decide on going to graduate school, ‘Is this the kind of stuff you’d read on your own, just for your own personal interest or is this the stuff you study for?’ and I said no, I read this on my own, and he said alright you should be a college professor.”
Adelson said that he was very lucky to find a job at Mesa College. He’d been unemployed for a while, until he finally got a part time job at UCSD. He worked in the writing program, which he thoroughly enjoyed and taught his first class as a teaching assistant.
Yet another of his teaching experiences came from working part time at the Center for Teaching Development at UCSD and where he earned his Ph.D.
“I had to sit and watch people and all disciplines teach biology, economics, calculus classes, chemistry, and that’s where I really learned how to be a teacher,” said Adelson.
According to Adelson sociology explains a lot about the world, it’s not just common sense and it challenges most people’s common sense ideas about the world.
“Sociology helps me understand the world,” said Adelson. Through his reading of sociology he was able to see clues of our now down tuned economy.
In his own time Adelson enjoys playing the guitar, even though he thinks he does it very badly, he loves to read, and his interests are in history and politics. He also likes to go to the gym and tries to go five days a week.
“The best way to bond with your students is by simply being honest,” says Adelson, “most importantly bringing it down to everyday life and everyday examples.”
Sophomore Judith Rodriguez, is currently taking Adelsons sociology 101 class.
In only three short weeks of knowing Adelson, Rodriguez says, “It’s been fun, it seems like it’s going to be a pleasure taking his class. He has a nice mixture of education and entertainment. He knows how to capture your attention with his jokes and he shows passion. He doesn’t make it seem like he’s forced to be here.”
Iliana Tamayo is also taking Adelson’s sociology class and also said that she likes the class so far.
“He’s fearless, he’s blunt but it’s the truth and students appreciate that. He makes it a priority to get everybody’s attention all the time,” said Tamayo.
Colleague Sabrina Santiago also teaches Sociology at Mesa College. She met Adelson 20 years ago in graduate school in UCSD.
“Evan is a remarkable man,” said Santiago. She believes he understands people very well and finds him to be brilliant.
