This month’s staff member in the spotlight is Drew Koke, a coordinator with the Student Academic Center. We asked him a few questions and here’s what he had to say:
What is your name and what do you do; how long have you worked here in OVPUE?
I’m Andrew Koke, and I go by “Drew,” a decision I made at the age of 4 and I’m sticking with it! My last name pronounces both the long “o” and the long “e” (so, ko-key, rhyming with hokey pokey). I’ve been with the OVPUE and the Student Academic Center since 2014. My main job is to identify problematic and difficult courses on our campus and create programs to help more students get through those courses on the first try. So I manage the tutoring website, run the PASS program, and coordinate several help classes. I also manage much of the academic coaching program at the SAC.
What three traits define you?
Well, I love teaching, both formally and informally, and that is a huge trait of mine. Secondly, I’m contemplative, thinking slowly and laboriously about all manner of things, from which ice cream flavor I want right now to epistemology. No quick decisions here! Third, I’m blessed each day with a song in my head as soon as I wake. I don’t get to pick the song; it just sort of happens. I’ll have a song running through my head about 2-3 seconds after waking and it is my first thought. Sometimes it is a song I heard in the past few weeks. Sometimes it’s just something that pops in my head that I haven’t heard recently. This morning I woke up with Fleetwood Mac’s “The Dance” and it plays in my head even as I type this.
What would you do (for a career) if you weren’t doing this?
I love outer space. I read astrophysics and science fiction in my spare time, and keep up on all the different space missions from private enterprise as well as national activities across the globe. If I could work for an organization that was either building towards a lunar colony or a Mars mission, I would. I may still. Every now and then I’ll proclaim to my wife, Catherine, “I need to work for Space X” or “I need to work for NASA.” She says, “You should.” Then I say, “maybe so…” and think about it slowly and laboriously again.
If you could learn to do anything, what would it be?
I love engineering. I like how humans build things, move things, plan things, and such. But I don’t understand the math. If could learn anything, it would be engineering, probably astrophysical or mechanical.
What challenging thing has happened (to) for you, and what did you gain from it?
In 2016 I suddenly became very dizzy. Over the next eight months I learned that the balance nerve cluster in my left ear had died, probably from a virus. I learned that it would never grow back. I learned that I had a new normal, that I would have this neurological disability for the remainder of my life. On the one hand, I’m so very happy that my dizziness wasn’t caused by a tumor, a stroke, or an aneurysm. On the other hand, my balance is unreliable, my short-term memory is much weaker than it used to be, I get confused easily, I’ve forgotten hordes of lyrics and no longer sing on key, and can have migraines. I feel like this experience made me much more sensitive and supportive of those who have other disabilities. And it humbled me, which is good for my character.
How do you define success?
I struggle with this. When I was a younger adult, I defined it as “having other people notice you” and worked towards that goal. Now, in part due to the student success work we do at the SAC, in part due to my disability, in part due to growing up, I think of it as, “helping someone improve something they decided should be improved.” But that first bottomless definition lurks instinctively still, and I must think my way past it sometimes.
What do you do in your spare time?
My main hobbies are gaming (card games, board games, word and number puzzles, video games), cycling, reading sci fi, and flower gardening.
What is a favorite book, movie, and/or tv show that had an impact on you?
I don’t like to watch/read things more than once. I mean, I consider myself a proper Star Wars geek yet have only watched the Star Wars original trilogy three times. But I’ve watched Lin Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton 22 times so far. I can’t explain it. I’m absolutely riveted by the production, like a magic spell. I have a total crush on Leslie Odom, Jr. I love the history, the art, the music, the verse. And I think, it’s not an accident that this production focused on non-white leadership found inspiration during the Obama presidency; we should seek such inspiration again. And then the soundtrack gets stuck in my head and I awake every day to a song from the production for the next three weeks straight. It’s a bit much.
Where would you like to go on a dream vacation?
The Moon. Seriously. I want to go there for a short visit and see Earthrise. Barring that, I’d like to go to Machu Picchu in Peru.
What is your favorite thing about working at OVPUE?
I like how dedicated everyone is to student success. We have so many different sections within the OVPUE, and each is dedicated to helping students succeed, whether that is planning towards a career, or figuring out a better class schedule, or helping someone navigate finite mathematics. I like that when I present something to another unit in the OVPUE, I can mention student success and it resonates as a prime mission, not an afterthought. And I like the synergy of so many different highly skilled professionals who are working towards the same goal.
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