Gerald and Ginger Wilson
Instructor Profiles: Gerald and Ginger Wilson
May 2020
Gerald and Ginger share a love of history and a passion for teaching. They met at Duke while Ginger was pursuing a Master’s and then a PhD and Gerald was on the Dean’s staff at Duke. Ginger earned her undergraduate degree at Duke, and Gerald earned his at Davidson College. Gerald also earned a degree from Duke Divinity School and a Master’s in American Religious Thought. Then while a Dean at Duke, Gerald obtained his PhD from UNC-CH in American History.
Both Gerald and Ginger have received many teaching awards. Ginger taught in Durham public schools and then at the NC School of Science and Math. She received an Excellence in Teaching award from the Board of Governors of the University of North Carolina and an Outstanding Teaching Award at the School of Science ad Math (where in addition to teaching she was Dean of Humanities) and many other awards and recognition. Among many other accolades, Gerald was recognized by students three times as “Duke’s Best Professor,” and his course “American Dreams/American Realities” was recognized as the best course in Duke’s curriculum. Gerald still teaches American History at Duke and is an Academic Dean for Duke’s undergraduate college. Ginger first taught history classes at OLLI when it was DILR; for one class OLLI members came to the School of Science and Math. Gerald and Ginger have co-taught several history classes at OLLI including “1945-1963: A Time to Remember” and “The Gilded Age.” Ginger is serving as chair of OLLI’s History and Current Events sub-committee. She says, “I like to see that OLLI has good history and current events programs. I want to turn people on to history!”
Gerald and Ginger believe that teaching at OLLI is easier in some ways than at the high school (or even undergraduate) level. The younger students are bright and eager to learn but lack life experience to understand the context surrounding historical subjects. Ginger and Gerald believe studying history is essential in learning to think critically about events and issues, to identify bias and propaganda, and to recognize, verify, and rely on facts.
Teaching remotely (by Zoom) presents new challenges to even these veteran educators. In high school, you usually teach a class 5 days a week, and 3 or 2 days a week at the undergraduate level. Even with OLLI classes meeting only once a week, they believe they still have flexibility to manage their delivery of content. But a 1-hour Zoom class requires extra effort in ensuring there’s the right amount of content for each of the 6 sessions and time for questions. Gerald said that in-person teaching “allows us to watch facial expressions and get immediate feedback” regarding the pace of learning, interest or boredom, and understanding or confusion.
When not busy teaching at Duke and OLLI, Gerald and Ginger enjoy reading (history and historical fiction), gardening, and their dog Windsor, the latest in a line of rescue dogs. Travel is another shared passion: Ginger has been to all 50 US States, and Gerald to 44. They’ve been to over 30 different countries and look forward to experiencing more.
*Registration opens at 9:00 am on May 11, 2020, for the Spring Zoom term May 19-June 25, 2020.
May 2020
Gerald and Ginger share a love of history and a passion for teaching. They met at Duke while Ginger was pursuing a Master’s and then a PhD and Gerald was on the Dean’s staff at Duke. Ginger earned her undergraduate degree at Duke, and Gerald earned his at Davidson College. Gerald also earned a degree from Duke Divinity School and a Master’s in American Religious Thought. Then while a Dean at Duke, Gerald obtained his PhD from UNC-CH in American History.
Both Gerald and Ginger have received many teaching awards. Ginger taught in Durham public schools and then at the NC School of Science and Math. She received an Excellence in Teaching award from the Board of Governors of the University of North Carolina and an Outstanding Teaching Award at the School of Science ad Math (where in addition to teaching she was Dean of Humanities) and many other awards and recognition. Among many other accolades, Gerald was recognized by students three times as “Duke’s Best Professor,” and his course “American Dreams/American Realities” was recognized as the best course in Duke’s curriculum. Gerald still teaches American History at Duke and is an Academic Dean for Duke’s undergraduate college. Ginger first taught history classes at OLLI when it was DILR; for one class OLLI members came to the School of Science and Math. Gerald and Ginger have co-taught several history classes at OLLI including “1945-1963: A Time to Remember” and “The Gilded Age.” Ginger is serving as chair of OLLI’s History and Current Events sub-committee. She says, “I like to see that OLLI has good history and current events programs. I want to turn people on to history!”
Gerald and Ginger believe that teaching at OLLI is easier in some ways than at the high school (or even undergraduate) level. The younger students are bright and eager to learn but lack life experience to understand the context surrounding historical subjects. Ginger and Gerald believe studying history is essential in learning to think critically about events and issues, to identify bias and propaganda, and to recognize, verify, and rely on facts.
Teaching remotely (by Zoom) presents new challenges to even these veteran educators. In high school, you usually teach a class 5 days a week, and 3 or 2 days a week at the undergraduate level. Even with OLLI classes meeting only once a week, they believe they still have flexibility to manage their delivery of content. But a 1-hour Zoom class requires extra effort in ensuring there’s the right amount of content for each of the 6 sessions and time for questions. Gerald said that in-person teaching “allows us to watch facial expressions and get immediate feedback” regarding the pace of learning, interest or boredom, and understanding or confusion.
When not busy teaching at Duke and OLLI, Gerald and Ginger enjoy reading (history and historical fiction), gardening, and their dog Windsor, the latest in a line of rescue dogs. Travel is another shared passion: Ginger has been to all 50 US States, and Gerald to 44. They’ve been to over 30 different countries and look forward to experiencing more.
*Registration opens at 9:00 am on May 11, 2020, for the Spring Zoom term May 19-June 25, 2020.