January 11, 2023
Gaea Hock recognized as Professor of the Week
Gaea Hock, associate professor of communications and agricultural education, was recognized as Professor of the Week at the Jan. 10 men's home basketball game.
Faculty Senate, the Office of the President, K-State Athletics and the Division of Communications and Marketing wish to recognize her contributions to K-State.
Hock teaches introduction to agricultural education, teaching methods, a CAT class and a graduate-level advanced methods of teaching course. She assists with student internship placement and supervision during the spring semester and serves as an advisor for agricultural education students. As a teacher and academic advisor, she goes above and beyond to provide tours and hands-on teaching experiences, and she supports undergraduate research opportunities.
She coordinates the Professional Development School experiences, which allow seniors in agricultural education to teach in local high schools prior to the student teaching internship semester. In her introduction to agricultural education course, she hosts a program tour highlighting formal and informal teaching careers, which takes 20-30 students all over the state to learn more about the agricultural education career. Finally, she has formed a partnership with Kansas Corn to provide corn-enhanced learning experiences for the student teaching interns, including a three-day tour, hands-on labs and providing supplies and equipment to teach the labs to their high school students.
Hock returned to campus as an assistant professor of agricultural education in 2016 and was promoted to associate professor in 2019. She was formerly an agricultural education instructor and FFA advisor at Centre High School. She was an instructor of agricultural leadership at Texas Tech University and an assistant professor of agricultural education at Mississippi State University before returning to K-State, her alma mater. She is active in professional organizations and has been honored as the Kansas Association of Agricultural Educators Outstanding Postsecondary Member in 2020, and she led the efforts for Kansas State University to be named the National Association of Agricultural Educators Region II Postsecondary Agriculture Program of the Year.