Dr. Patricia A. Gordon, who served as a member of the Arkansas Tech University faculty in five different decades, was named professor emeritus of health and physical education by the Arkansas Tech Board of Trustees on Thursday.
Gordon first came to Arkansas Tech as an assistant professor in 1965. She was promoted to associate professor in 1974 and professor in 1984.
Gordon retired from full-time teaching in 2001, but she returned to serve as an adjunct professor in 2001-02 and again as a full-time instructor on a temporary basis in 2003-04 and 2004-05.
“I cannot adequately express how many hours Dr. Gordon gave to Arkansas Tech and its students during her tenure as a faculty member,” wrote Dr. Annette Holeyfield, head of the Arkansas Tech Department of Health and Physical Education and a former Gordon student, in a letter recommending Gordon for emeritus status. “Arkansas Tech’s P.E. department owes much to her vision and leadership. To hundreds of graduates, Dr. Gordon is fondly remembered and associated with Arkansas Tech’s P.E. department.”
The annual honor for the top undergraduate student in the Arkansas Tech Health and Physical Education Department is named the Dr. Pat Gordon Award in recognition of her service to the department.
She was instrumental in the planning of Tech Fit, the wellness center inside the Hull Physical Education Building that Arkansas Tech students, faculty and staff utilize on a daily basis. Gordon has previously received the Arkansas Association of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (AAHPERD) Honor Award. Her service on campus included working on committees dealing with subjects as diverse as athletics, admissions, academic standards and student honors, university promotion and tenure, Who’s Who selection, curriculum, student affairs, affirmative action, faculty welfare, the library, instructional materials and equipment, assessment and graduate studies. “Dr. Gordon led by example,” wrote Holeyfield. “She had no reservations about letting students know that she expected them to be leaders in their field. As much as she pushed her students to excel, each one knew that she was asking no more of them than what she had done.”
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