Professor Dennis Gray expresses love of learning through teaching

As an adjunct faculty member at Richland since the spring semester of 2003, Dennis Gray currently teaches world civilization courses, as well as Bible as History for continuing education.

Born in Paris, Texas, Gray has lived in Texas his entire life. He has been married to his wife, Nancy, for what he calls 32 "adventurous" years. He has two sons, with the older in his last year at Texas Tech University, majoring in fisheries management.

In 1978, Gray earned his bachelor's degree in economics from Texas Tech University, and his master's degree in ancient and medieval history from Southern Methodist University in 2000. SMU professor of ancient history, Melissa Dowling, encouraged Gray to pursue his master's.

"Some of the history courses I had to take were not offered in the evenings so Dowling helped me juggle my class schedule to fit around my day job," said Gray.  "I'm not sure I'd be doing what I love without her support."

During his time as a graduate student at SMU, Gray took a world history class in the evening at Richland. Once he completed his master's program, Gray thought he would love to teach history in an evening class. Coincidently, it turned out that after his graduation at SMU, Richland was looking for evening history instructors.

"I enjoy teaching at Richland very much," said Gray. "My favorite part of class is the time we spend on discussion. Whether I'm listening to the young students in my world civilization class or the Richland Emeritus students in my Bible History class, I believe I learn as much from them as they from me."

At Richland, he helped with the design of the current American history textbook Richland uses.

He also teaches a world civilization class in one of Richland's LearnLabs. Gray said the students seem to appreciate the up-to-date technology the LearnLabs offer.

  Gray spends a lot of free time reading, a hobby he finds most historians share.

He believes one can't keep up with new discoveries and evidence unless he or she periodically checks new publications.

"I also enjoy traveling to Lubbock to watch Texas Tech football," said Gray. "For some reason I'm more of a college football fan than I am of the professional game."

In addition, Gray started volunteering in 2005 and has accumulated about 700 volunteer hours.

He currently volunteers four hours a week at the USO Welcome Center at DFW Airport.

"I started volunteering because after meeting the great young people my son served with in the Marines, I realized I wanted to do something to assist our military men and women," said Gray.