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David F. Dean, D.V.M.,
Ph.D. |
Biographical Information | Personal Interests | Information for Students | Contact Information
| I was born in Washington D.C. on the 30th of May, 1952. My father was an officer in the United States Air Force, therefore, my mother and father and I were relocated several times before I reached the age of seven. We even spent some time stationed in New Foundland. |
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In the summer of 1960 we were transferred to southern California, and it was there in 1964 that my father retired from the Air Force. Our home until 1980 was on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, southeast of Los Angeles. Though it rapidly grew in population during the time that we lived there, it remains one of the most beautiful portions of the California coastline.
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 Point Vicente lighthouse |
I graduated from Rolling Hills High School in 1970 and attended Arizona State University until 1973, leaving one semester short of earning a bachelors degree in Wildlife Biology. After leaving ASU, I worked at a variety of jobs including being self-employed for a couple of years, before returning to college. In 1979 I earned an Associate in Science degree in Animal Health Technology from Los Angeles Pierce College.
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After graduation from Pierce College, I accepted a position on the staff of the Department of Rural Practice, at the College of Veterinary Medicine, of the University of Tennessee (UTCVM) in Knoxville. Though initially I had no intention of applying to veterinary school, eventually I took the prerequisite courses for admission and was accepted. I received a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from the University of Tennessee in 1987. |
| Following two years as an associate in a companion animal practice in Greenville, South Carolina, I returned to UTCVM to begin residency training in Anatomic Pathology and to pursue a PhD in the Department of Pathobiology. The chair of the department and my major professor was Dr. David O. Slauson. In the spring of 1994 I completed my residency training and received a PhD in Comparative and Experimental Medicine. |
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During residency training, I was required to teach a portion of the course in General Pathology taken by sophomore veterinary students. This was the first time that I had engaged in formal classroom instruction - and I loved it! In fact, I decided that upon completion of my degree, I would seek a position that emphasized teaching, rather than research or service. |
| When I graduated in the spring of 1994, two such positions were available to me, and I chose to accept the offer made by Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama. | |
Flatpicking Guitar 
Lightening fast runs, hot licks, and fiddle tunes are all part of the exciting style of guitar playing called Flatpicking. Flatpicking is the technique of playing a steel-string acoustic guitar with a flat pick rather than using bare fingers, finger picks, or a thumb pick. Simply put, by using a flat pick a guitarist is able to bring something out of a steel string guitar that no other technique can.
Because the guitar was traditionally used as a rhythm instrument, the technique of playing lead breaks on the acoustic guitar with a flat pick in bluegrass, old-time, folk, and country music did not really become widespread until the late 1950s. During the 1960s and 70s the flatpicking technique became more popular as lead guitar became more prominent in bluegrass music. The most well known of the flatpickers from this era are such guitar greats as Doc Watson, Dan Crary, Clarence White, Tony Rice, and Norman Blake. While all of these artists are still performing, there is a new generation of flatpickers on the scene such as David Grier, Scott Nygaard, Bryan Sutton, and Kenny Smith.
I've been playing since June of 2002 and I love it! I have a Taylor model 510 that is about eight years old. Most of the songs that I play are American fiddle tunes and include:
Flop Eared Mule
Liberty
Old Joe Clark
Red Haired Boy
Sailor's Hornpipe
Salt Creek
St. Ann's Reel
Chattanooga Choo Choo
Tico Taco No Fuba
Stone's Rag
Bluegrass Boogie
Whistling Rufus
East Tennessee Rag
Eighth Air Force Historical Society
The United States Air Force didn't exist until after World War II. During the second world war, the U.S. Army Air Force (USAAF) was divided into several "air forces". One of these, the largest, was the Eighth Air Force (8th AF) based in England. The airplanes of the 8th AF consisted of heavy bombers such as the B-17 "Flying Fortress" and the B-24 "Liberator". The 8th had medium-sized bombers such as the B-26 "Maurader", and others. The fighter planes of the 8th included the P-47 "Thunderbolt", the P-38 "Lightening", and the P-51 "Mustang".
| Beginning in the summer of 1942 until the end of the war in May of 1945, the men of the 8th AF flew missions against targets in Germany and occupied Europe. Almost 48,000 men of the 8th AF were killed in action - equal to the total number of Marines killed in the Pacific, and equal to about 1 in 10 of all Americans killed during the war. |  |
The Eighth Air Force Historical Society honors the sacrifice and valor of the men who fought as members of the 8th AF during the second world war.
One of the many bomb groups within the 8th AF was the 95th BG based in Horham, England. The 95th consisted of four squadrons (a total of about 30 planes) of B-17 "Flying Fortresses". A total of 321 combat missions were flown by the 95th with 156 B-17s lost in combat and 569 men killed in action. The 95th is the only bombardment group in the entire USAAF to be awarded three Presidential Distinguished Unit citations. One such citation was earned by the 95th when on March 4, 1944 it became the first group to bomb Berlin in daylight.
| My father served
as a B-17 pilot in the 95th from the fall of 1943 until June 6, 1944
(D-day). He and his crew (see picture below) flew the required 30 missions
during a time when the life-expectancy of a bomber crew was eight
missions. He participated in the first daylight bombing of Berlin, and for
his heroism that day was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (see picture right).
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Church Activities
I am a member of Christ United Methodist Church on Grelot Rd. in west Mobile. It's a wonderful, growing church with many small group opportunities. We have a great Adult Discipleship program and I teach a course in the program entitled, "Introduction to the Bible". I present the course as a two day seminar (three hours each day) in August and often I teach the course over seven weeks (one hour each Sunday) in the fall.
The church has a very active ministry specifically for college-age students, and several Spring Hill College students are involved in this ministry. If you are looking for a church home, please don't hesitate to contact me - I would be happy to have you attend with me one Sunday.
Sports
Tennis
I
started playing
tennis in the Summer of 2004. In addition to being a
source of fun and exercise, tennis has given me the opportunity to meet a
large number of very nice people. With 50 lighted courts, The Mobile
Tennis Center is the largest public tennis facility in the world.
The United States Tennis Association (USTA) and Bay Area Tennis
Association (BATA) offer adult leagues throughout the year. Each
league plays on a different night of the week, and its not uncommon for
individuals to play on two or more teams in the same season. USTA
teams can compete for state, regional, and even national championships.
Women's College Basketball
The Lady Vols basketball team of the University of Tennessee represents what is best about college athletics - a winning tradition without sacrificing academic achievement. The Lady Vols have won six national championships since 1987, including three in a row from 1996 to 1998. Since the inception of the program, every Lady Vol who has completed her eligibility at the University of Tennessee has earned a bachelors degree.
The team has had only one head coach - Pat Head Summit. Coach Summit is the all-time leader in wins in women's college basketball, and was recently named as the Naismith Coach of the Century.
| Though they have yet to establish the tradition of winning championships reached by the Lady Vols, the Lady Badgers of Spring Hill College have achieved a level of success on the basketball court and in the classroom that is truly admirable. |  |
Opinion Pieces
The
Sad State of Politics Today
Why
I Won’t Vote for “Dubya” a Second Time
The
Advantages of a Two Handed Forehand
What
You Need to Know About Tennis Elbow
Dr. Dean's Guide to Becoming a Successful College Student
You are students of Spring Hill College, an outstanding institution with a proud history and an exciting future. Remember that learning is a two-way street between teacher and student. Make sure that you are doing your part at least as well as the faculty does theirs. As a former "professional student" and current college professor, I feel well-qualified to offer the following thoughts and suggestions for becoming a successful college student.
1. "The most important thing in life is showing up," says Woody Allen. That's true, too, with regard to your classes. On any given day, you could probably think of several things you would rather do than go to class (such as staying in bed). As a matter of fact, as most of you have already discovered, staying in bed will be one of the greatest temptations of your college life. There are several good reasons for attending class but perhaps these are the two most important:
(a) You'll learn more. When you study without having been to class, you're learning the material for the first time. When you study after you've been to class, you're reviewing. That's a big difference.
(b) In the subjective realm of grading, attendance always counts. Repeated absences will lose you the benefit of the doubt when it comes to grading - and you never know when you might need that benefit.
2. Prepare for class. As a renowned educator (whose name I can't recall) once said, "If you don't know enough about a subject already, lectures are a pretty poor way to learn." You have to read the material eventually, so you may as well read it before class. It's amazing how much more meaningful the material is the second time you hear it
3. Don't confuse taking notes with stenography. You can't listen, think, and ask questions if you're busy writing down every word the instructor says. Write down key words and phrases and develop your own personal form of shorthand (abbreviations for commonly used words, etc.).
4. If you want to receive a good grade, participate in class. Most professors ask for and appreciate student involvement in their class - it makes learning and teaching more enjoyable. If you are uncomfortable speaking up in a group the college classroom affords a wonderful opportunity to become good at it. You will need to speak in public when you are out in the "real world", so take the opportunity to practice now.
5. The study methods which earned you good grades in high school will not produce the same results in college. On average, you should spend two hours studying each day for every hour spent in class. Spend time studying every night of the week (well, maybe not Fridays). Weekend days present an opportunity for highly productive studying because you should be refreshed and relaxed. Study in a place without distractions. Most importantly, focus on learning the material, not on cramming facts to be regurgitated on the next quiz or exam and forgotten by the end of the day. Learning implies understanding, retaining, integrating, and applying the knowledge you acquire. The material truly is important, you not only have to know it for the next exam, but also for your future coursework, and probably for your entire professional life. Also, focusing on learning the material, rather than on achieving a particular grade on an exam, will reduce the stress and the development of "burn out" toward the end of the semester. Besides, if you've truly learned the material, grades tend to take care of themselves.
6. As you may have noticed, final exams tend to occur during final exam week, and for that reason they are typically a losing proposition. Don't put yourself in a situation where you have to do well on a final exam.
7. Take advantage of the opportunity to learn the art of written and oral communication. In biomedical science, communication is as important as knowledge. Possessing knowledge is only half of the equation, the other half is having the ability to convey your knowledge to others in precise and concise terms, both verbally and in writing. Essay exams (and perhaps even oral exams) should be the norm rather than the exception.
8. Behave responsibly and develop healthy lifestyle habits. The transition between home and college life is not easy. You are no longer under the direct supervision of your parents. It is the beginning of learning to be responsible and independent. Unfortunately, the college culture today includes the use of alcohol and drugs at staggering levels of abuse. Rather than adopting self-destructive habits, develop healthy lifestyle habits that you can maintain for a lifetime.
9. Take time to enjoy yourself, and don't neglect your spiritual life. These are busy years for you - there is much to learn. Odds are, however, that 20 years from now it will still be that way. Get into something extracurricular that you can enjoy, music, drama, literature, community service, sports, whatever. Place yourself in the world around you. But get into it in a big way. It may save your sanity in the all too frequent moments of stressful professional overload and burnout. Just because you are away from home is no reason to neglect your spiritual life. Regular church attendance, fellowship, Bible study, and prayer are all critical to spiritual growth.
10. Right now, make a personal commitment to lifelong learning. We are on a logarithmic scale of growth in biomedical science. Much of what you are now being taught was not available when I first attended college more than 30 years ago, and the half-life of what you are now learning will likely be even shorter. Despite the quality of the education that you will receive here, if you don't develop the right habits now, you will be steamrolled by the advances in science which are sure to come.
Lastly, the fundamental purpose of education (as I see it anyway), is to show you that the most important thing of all is to be the one thing nobody else in the whole world can be except you, and that is your own unique and precious self. Whatever you do with your life - whatever you end up achieving or not achieving - the greatest gift you have in you to give the world is the gift of who you are: your way of seeing things, and saying things, and feeling about things that is like nobody else's. We are unique, and each of us can make contributions to society that no one else can make.
I truly want you to be both happy and successful, and I will do anything I can to help you.
David F.
Dean, DVM, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Biology
Spring Hill College
Courses
Human Anatomy & Physiology I (BIO 231 Syllabus)
General Physiology (BIO 462 Syllabus & Schedule)
Work Address and Telephone Number:
4000 Dauphin St., Mobile AL 36608 (251) 380-3082
Home Address and Telephone Number:
370 W. Byron Ave., Mobile AL 36609 (251) 316-0050
E-mail Address:
ddean@azalea.shc.edu