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Dept. Chair History/Social Science, Darrin Campen

Darrin Campen: Dept. Chair History/Social Science; “I like planting the seeds. You don’t always see them grow, but I hope that someday, the mayor of Aiken or the president will walk up to me and say they really liked being in my class,” said Darrin Campen, a full-time instructor and Department Chair of History and Social Sciences at ATC. And, as if that wasn't enough to keep him busy, he's also pursuing his PhD in Counselor Education at USC and advising students in the Human Services Department.; Campen got bit by the teaching bug while teaching an Introduction to Psychology class as he was working on his master's degree in Psychology. He thought he wanted to be a clinical psychologist, until he taught that first class. But after graduating with his Masters Degree, he stuck to his original plan and got a job in the North Carolina prison system. I got my big opportunity to work in the ‘clinical environment,’ he said. “It was a very overly regimented place, but I worked there a year and a half.”; After his 'clinical experience' Campen wanted explore his teaching options. He had a friend who was living in Japan and he helped Campen find a job in Osaka. He lived there and taught English at colleges and for private corporations for three years. Surely, after all that time, he learned Japanese, right? “I have survival level Japanese -- where’s the McDonalds, where’s the bank, etcetera, but that’s about it,” he laughed.; When Campen returned to the US, he wanted to combine his love of teaching with psychology and mental health interests. “I looked all over the U.S. for a job,” he said. “ I was just about to give up and go back to work in the prison system, when a small college in North Carolina offered me a position.”; While teaching in North Carolina, Campen kept looking for the perfect job opportunity and found it seven and a half years ago when he was offered jobs at both ATC and Piedmont Tech at the same time. “I took the job at ATC because it offered more diversity and I felt more comfortable here,” he said. Since his arrival Campen’s been working on his Ph.D. in Counselor Education at USC. He figures it will take him another year to complete his dissertation.; “It’s been tough,” he admitted. “I’d work here, then take off for Columbia in the evenings. I also did several internships at elementary and high schools in the area while teaching here and I guess I was kind of a pioneer here in hybrid classes due to necessity, because my schedule forced me into it. On-line classes do give you a lot of flexibility, but are a lot of work."; Although he already teaches a full load of classes at ATC, Campen is still always thinking about inventing new classes for future course schedule catalogs. "One of my favorite classes to teach is the one on cross-cultural issues, and one that's always interesting is Human Sexuality. I've also thought about a class I'd love to invent and teach," he said. "It would be a Psychology in Film class. I'd use a lot of movie clips. Movies portray a lot of psychological disorders accurately and inaccurately and I'd like to show the clips and discuss them with the students in the class."; “But by far the most interesting thing about my job is the students. I had a student who took Psychology 101 five times before she passed it with a “C.” When she graduated from ATC she gave me a plaque that still hangs on my wall. Last week, I got a graduation announcement from her for Brigham Young University. She’s graduating with a degree in Sociology. So that’s the reward. You can’t put a price on that kind of stuff.”

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