Yes that’s right, the famous segment often shown in the Dean Dome has taken on a new form — the biology department has created its own version of the “I am a Tar Heel” video.
Kelly Hogan, a senior lecturer in the biology department, is the mastermind behind the video. She said she got the idea one day when she saw the original video in the Dean Dome with her husband, Brian Hogan, who is also a member of the faculty at UNC.
“It’s a powerful video, and the students especially love it. We envisioned a silly scenario of students going wild if professors were on the big screen at the game,” Kelly Hogan said.
Kelly Hogan’s purpose with the video was to provide a sense of community, and show the students that the professors can have a bit of fun.
She intends to show the video at the departmental graduation ceremony in May.
She said that while the students might not go crazy when they see their professors on the board, it will give the students a little something to remember.
With the NCAA Tournament going on, students tend to pull a few “sick days” to watch basketball, but professors are just as excited about March Madness as we are.
Gregory Copenhaver, an associate professor in the biology department, said that the department has so much school spirit that they have to mop it off the floors.
“I’m pretty sure that our devotion to college basketball is so passionate that if we tried we would be eligible for tax-free status as a religion,” Copenhaver said.
Jean Desaix, another senior lecturer in the biology department, reiterated the same sentiment.
She said in an email that she takes college basketball pretty seriously, adding that she and her husband have had season tickets for more than 40 years.
Desaix said that she participated in the video because she IS a Tar Heel, and she thought it was important for the students to realize that biology professors care about something beyond ATP.
“We care about the state, the University, and the individual hard-working students in our classes,” Desaix said.
Brian Hogan said he wasn’t a Tar Heel born, but he is certainly a Tar Heel bred. He said he is a huge basketball fan and a very competitive guy.
“I’ve probably filled out four or five brackets,” he said “I don’t like to lose.”
Without a doubt, the major idea that the professors wanted to get across was clear. They are human. They wanted to show their students that scientists and professors are just like everyone else, and that includes being huge Tar Heel fans.
Kelly Hogan said their 8-year-old son Jake picked his own bracket this year, and has the Tar Heels winning it all. Looks like she and her husband have been raising him the right way.
With March Madness in full swing, Kelly Hogan said that you could find a few professors taking extra long lunches, crowding around live feeds of the games and even taking a few of their own “sick days.”
Maybe they’re not so different than us after all.
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