February 2009 Faculty Focus

 Patrick Sells Blends Theory and Practice in Teaching

By April Babington

As a full time statistics instructor at Missouri State and the founding managing partner and CEO of Alexandra Marketing Research Group, Inc., Joplin, Missouri, Pat Sells commutes to ensure he has the best of both worlds.  Mixing practical application and theory is what he enjoys most.  Sells stresses that practical application of statistical tools is necessary to stay current. “You really have to go back to the basics and teach the basics in order to apply the tools,” he says. “Education stops at the theory level and doesn’t include practical application. That’s what I work hard to do; bridge that gap.”

Sells began teaching 15 years ago at UMR Rolla (now Missouri University of Science and Technology). There he taught Quality Management, relying on the philosophies of Deming and Juran.  He taught stats courses as a per-course instructor for the MSU Marketing Department since 1997, before shifting to fulltime instructor status in 2008.  Asked what Sells most admires about students, he answers, “Most students want to be serious students although some will discover that later than others.  All students want to be successful. Searching for how to be successful is what they’re doing."

Sells loves teaching and it shows; from the round table next to his desk, conducive to communicating with students, to the white board he had installed in his office to better facilitate student success during office hours tutoring. His favorite aspect of teaching is “seeing a student say ‘I get it!’ To see that in their faces is an instantaneous reward.”