David Blouin
Published March 28, 2008
Lieber Memorial Teaching Associate Award
The Lieber Memorial Teaching Associate Award, initiated in 1961, has been presented each year to outstanding teachers among the university’s graduate students who combine their programs of advanced study with instructional employment in their schools and departments.
David Blouin
Doctoral Student in Sociology
Associate Instructor
Department of Sociology
College of Arts and Sciences
IU Bloomington
David Blouin’s sociology students step into a lecture hall and instantly become real sociologists who research and reach their own conclusions, but they don’t stay in the classroom long. Blouin’s innovative service-learning courses require student sociologists to spend 30 hours volunteering in the community.
“David Blouin is the poster child for teaching sociology in a way that benefits the community in practical ways while enriching the lives of students through service,” said Thomas Gieryn, Rudy Professor and chair of the IU Bloomington Department of Sociology.
Blouin merges his passion for teaching through service learning with his sociological research on human-animal relations. He challenged his students to design a survey that would assess pet owners’ attitudes toward and relationships with their animals for the Monroe County Humane Association. The students collected, entered and analyzed data, providing most students with their first opportunity to do in-depth research. “His students, from Day One, were charged with doing sociological research -- a refreshing change from reading about what others have discovered,” Gieryn continued. The information collected from almost 600 local pet owners benefited not just Bloomington residents, but also their dogs and cats.
Dedicated to improving his teaching methods, Blouin conducts his own research on teaching and learning. His students are required to evaluate and critique course readings and lectures on quizzes and exams. “In my teaching, I strive to pass on the wonder of the sociological perspective as well as the practical tools it provides,” Blouin said.
“It is not always easy at a major research-driven university like IU to get undergraduates involved in the production of new knowledge; David Blouin has done this superbly well, and his students are the beneficiaries.”--Thomas Gieryn, Rudy Professor and chair of the Department of Sociology, IU Bloomington
He consistently receives high marks from students for his organization, enthusiasm, preparedness and ability to encourage discussion. Bernice Pescosolido, an IU Distinguished Professor and Chancellor’s Professor of sociology, said that a review of his course materials “reveals all of the hallmarks of excellence -- organization, rigor and enthusiasm.”
On the first day of class, Blouin asks students for personal information and anecdotes, as well as their favorite movies, television shows, books, musicians and topics they would like to discuss in class. He uses the students’ responses to make sociology relevant to their interests. He often opens class with a discussion of relevant current events. One student evaluation said that he “always had stories to elaborate on the lecture materials, so concepts were easier to understand, remember and apply.”
Blouin collaborated in 2007 with fellow graduate student Evelyn Perry to investigate the effects of service learning. Their thesis, “Whom Does Service Learning Really Serve: Community Organizations’ Perspectives on Service Learning,” examined critical questions and helped ensure that service-learning programs helped both students and the community. Blouin and Perry won a Best Paper Award from the Society for the Study of Problems for the research project.
In spring 2007, Blouin planned and coordinated the Preparing Future Faculty Conference, an annual event co-sponsored by the University Graduate School. More than 300 graduate students attended to learn more about preparing for academic careers.
