Professor Tommy Dickey recently sent the editor a photo of one of his prized Great Pyrenean Mountain Dogs “handing out” an academic award to one of his Geography 3a students: “Attached is a photograph of Bingjie Yang receiving the second Theodore Nansen Academic Award from one of my three Great Pyrenees, Theodore Nansen (“Teddy”) who was named for polar explorer, oceanographer, and Nobel Prize winner Fridtjof Nansen. Bingjie joined the first award winner Tay Om in scoring a perfect score on an Ocean-Atmosphere exam. The awards include a commendation letter and a monetary prize.“ “I have enjoyed using lots of ways of educating students. The most fun for me is to combine a variety of topics and interests with students who are having a lot of fun and unknowingly learning when they least expect it – thanks to big, fluffy Great Pyrenees – Assistant Professors of Geography!”
“I have always enjoyed teaching and using unconventional links to presumably unconnected topics. Enter our Great Pyrenees as my Assistant Professors! I thought it would be fun for students to see our Great Pyrenees and learn a bit about them and other dogs and their importance to geography, exploration, and life at sea. I have brought them to my Geography 3a class (Oceans-Atmosphere) for several years now. I preface the visits with some slides and leading questions about how climate would be affected by increasing the number of Pyrs (I use the increased albedo effect to advantage here! Increased food consumption argument is not emphasized, of course!). I usually bring them in for my Nansen lecture, as Nansen used Siberian huskies to reach the point farthest north (86 14N) in1895. It turns out that dogs were key to not only Nansen’s success, but also to that of Norwegian Raold Amundsen. In addition, I talk about and show pictures of other dogs that have ‘served’ in the U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard, as well as having served in lifesaving ocean rescues. Our Pyrs also sometimes come in for exam days to calm the students’ nerves and to get a few extra pets. I often receive emailed pictures of students’ pets at the end of the quarter” (source).
