Murphy Award: Kim Plake

Five exceptional teachers have been selected as recipients of the 2015 Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award in Memory of Charles B. Murphy. This week, Purdue Today will feature Q&As on each of the recipients. This Q&A focuses on Kim Plake, associate professor of pharmacy practice.

Years at Purdue: 12

Teaching interests: Communications, behavior change, patient assessment.

Goals as a professor: When I started teaching, I experienced difficulties in one of my courses. In essence, I felt that it was disaster. The students were angry at how the class was going, and I was frustrated. I felt anxious every day that I had to teach this class. I spent many hours thinking about the course and why it was going so poorly.

When reflecting on my performance in the classroom. I realized that how I was teaching the course was not aligned with the expectations that I had for students in their assessments. I expected them to apply information, but I wasn't allowing time in the classroom to practice. This realization early in my career continues to be my focus when I am in the classroom.

Kim Plake, 2015 Murphy Award recipient and associate professor of pharmacy practice. (Purdue University photo/Charles Jischke) Download Photo

My ultimate goal is provide students a comfortable environment where they can learn and then practice the skills. Students typically cannot listen to a lecture and then immediately apply content. They need to work with material and explore its meaning in different contexts. I spend time thinking about the desired student outcomes and how can I provide them opportunities to achieve those outcomes. When students leave my courses, I want them to be able to use what they learned tomorrow, next month, next year and 20 years from now. The content may change over time, but I want them to have the tools necessary to learn, reflect and apply.

The most important lesson Plake wants students to take away: One of the most important lessons that I want my students to learn is that they can make a difference no matter their selected career path. They will have choices throughout their lives to take the path of least resistance or to rise to the occasion. I hope that they feel that they can use their skills to rise to the occasion and make a difference in patients' lives.

How realistic practice activities and exercises implemented by Plake help student learn: The majority of my teaching revolves around working with individuals to improve their health outcomes. Topics include communication, cultural awareness and behavior change. For many students, it is difficult to imagine what it is like to have a chronic illness and be asked to make multiple changes. To be successful in engaging individuals to improve their health, it requires health care professionals to be effective communicators, as well as empathetic and knowledgeable. It may be difficult for students to understand this entirely unless they have experience with the health care system. Many students do not have this experience as most are young and healthy.

The realistic practice activities provide students an opportunity to experience what it is like to be in the health care system. For the Geriatric Medication Game, students become older individuals who have disabilities and are required to interact with health care professionals. It allows them to experience disabilities, such as loss of vision and fine motor skills, and recognize what individuals with these disabilities may experience.

Similar to the Geriatric Medication Game, for the Health Behavior Change Project, students are put in the position of a patient asked to make healthy lifestyle change, such as starting to eat healthier and beginning an exercise regimen. Instead of telling them the challenges people face, students get to experience behavior change and disabilities firsthand. It makes what I am teaching in the classroom more meaningful and helps them to think about how they can use the material to improve patient care.

On serving as a co-faculty advisor to the Purdue chapter of the American Pharmacists Association-Academy of Student Pharmacists: The American Pharmacists Association-Academy of Student Pharmacists is a student organization associated with the national pharmacy association, the American Pharmacists Association. In this organization, students plan a variety of activities, such as health screenings, community service events and professional advocacy. My co-advisor, Alan Farkas, and I work together to mentor students in these activities.

Our philosophy is that this is a student organization and they should determine the direction of the group. Most of their activities focus on improving our communities, particularly in regards to health. We are there to facilitate and provide support so that they think about all aspects of their initiatives. Hopefully, we provide a comfortable environment where students can explore their interests and discover how they can contribute to society.

Our thought is that if our students become engaged in the community while they are at Purdue, they will be more likely to engage in their communities when they graduate. The organization and our interactions with the students provide them with opportunities to develop their leadership skills, plan community events, apply skills they are learning the classroom, and interact with diverse individuals.

On being named a Murphy Award recipient: Winning this award for something that I love and would do regardless is a little surreal. I absolutely love working with students. I believe I learn more from them than they learn from me.

What her students say: Dr. Plake provides students with detailed lectures and additional sources of information. She speaks articulately and respects students. In turn, we respect her. She goes above and beyond to emphasize the humanistic side of pharmacy, even including personal medical stories. She recognizes the topics that are imperative that we learn and requests us to do so. Even after working in a pharmacy for years and having a previous related degree, she has presented so much information I had not known. ... She is the role model of how professors should be like. She is more than willing to meet with her students outside of class. She has a strong want for her students to succeed in all aspects (school, life, etc.) and is open to getting to know them on a more personal level. She explains material in class with good analogies and descriptions.