Funke brings the funk to GC&SU

Dr. Barbara Funke has dedicated her life to helping the community in matters of health, and sharing that knowledge with students here at Georgia College & State University.

Funke, professor of health education, health, physical education and recreation, has been a strong supporter of the Planned Parenthood program, which has been a major focus of her life.

“I am a strong believer in reproductive freedom,” she said. “I think all women have the right to be informed and should have the right to access safe and legal methods of contraception and abortion. As a teacher of human sexuality courses, I try to help students become more comfortable with various aspects of sexuality. I try to help students appreciate that sexuality is a wonderful and positive aspect of being a human being, but to handle their sexuality in a responsible manner. Choices concerning sexual decisions need to be made so it is consistent with their personal values. I also encourage students who are sexually active to take actions to help avoid unwanted pregnancies, HIV and STDs.”

The program caused her to become interested in the field of health education, almost by chance.

“Initially it was completely random, suggested by my advisor for my internship, and it turned out to be a very good fit for me,” she said. “I was a sociology major, and I was required to do an internship in my senior year. My advisor suggested Planned Parenthood, and it was a powerful experience that led me to pursue my master’s and Ph.D. in health education. The staff was a phenomenal group of caring professionals with a common interest. It gave me an opportunity to use counseling and educational skills to help women with reproductive health issues. After I graduated, I continued to volunteer every week, and about a year later a position became available and they hired me.”

Although she no longer works for Planned Parenthood, she continues to support the program.

“I send monetary contributions to the national organization, but I am not close enough to volunteer at any of them in Georgia,” she said. “The only sites I know of are in Augusta and Atlanta. I have had students complete internships at the Augusta site.”

Her time spent with the program cultivated her interest in becoming a teacher.

“I did a great deal of one-on-one, small group and some classroom teaching and training,” she said. “My supervisors were very supportive as well as my undergraduate professors, and they felt I would be a good teacher and encouraged me to pursue advanced degrees. I loved what I did at Planned Parenthood and miss it very much, but I also love teaching at the university level.”

She said sharing her knowledge with young people has been a very satisfying experience.

“I love teaching, and I find working with college students to be extremely rewarding,” she said. “I have many wonderful students, and it’s really an honor to share these educational pursuits with them. It is an awesome responsibility, and I struggle with ways to improve my teaching. I think Human Sexuality is the course where I am most effective, and it is my favorite one to teach.”

Graduate student Megan Hughes is one of those students whose life has been affected by Funke’s work.

“I had Dr. Funke as my advisor and professor for two years in undergrad as well as working under her now as a grad assistant,” said Hughes. “Dr. Funke is one of the most open-minded and caring teachers I have had at GC&SU. She goes out of her way to help students and encourages them to get involved in both her classes and within the community. She always has time to talk to students and is genuinely interested in them. She is enthusiastic about the material she teaches and really believes that everyone can make a difference. I personally feel lucky to have been able to learn from her.”

Funke’s fellow faculty members value her contributions to the fields of health and health education.

“I have known Dr. Funke for three years,” said Bud Cooper, athletic training education coordinator. “She is very dependable and honest. She is passionate about community health and goes the extra step for her students. She is very up-to-date on current health care issues. She is always willing to assist the other faculty members and offer her expertise in the department.”

“Dr. Funke is a wonderful professional and a great human being,” said Dr. Jim Lidstone, professor and chair of physical education and recreation. “She is extremely pleasant and personable, is always positive and is a caring and compassionate individual. She is a wonderful listener, and she is completely dedicated to her students both in and out of the classroom. She spends a great deal of time advising students and counseling them toward their chosen careers. She is a master of a wide variety of teaching and learning techniques. She also never refuses a request to speak to students or community groups about important health-related topics or issues. I have learned much from Barbara Funke. I very much value her as a colleague and friend and I am pleased to have had an opportunity to work with her.”

Besides teaching, Funke said she has several other health-related pursuits.

“I recently completed a 200-hour yoga teacher training program at the Peachtree Yoga Center in Atlanta,” she said. “I am now a registered yoga teacher and I am teaching a community class on Saturday mornings. I perform a fair amount of service in the community. One example is, I am a board member for the Baldwin unit of the American Cancer Society. I am also a Road to Recovery driver, which means I drive cancer patients who lack transportation or are too ill to drive themselves to their cancer treatment appointments.”

If not for an incident when she was a teenager, Funke’s life may have taken a very different path.

“I was a junior in high school, and I was very unhappy,” she said. “I previously attended a very good private school, but in 1972 a huge flood hit the Pennsylvania town where I lived. My family lost our cars and all our furnishings, and our house needed extensive repairs. No one had flood insurance then, so I volunteered to switch to a public school because of the financial strain. The quality of education was very poor at this school, and I was not learning anything and was very frustrated. Unfortunately, instead of talking to my parents or a guidance counselor, and being a typical adolescent lacking in foresight, I chose to run away. I had a friend in college in New York, and I was going to stay there. A twist of fate resulted in a mix up in where we planned to meet. I was behind this particular building at the appointed day and time, and my friend was waiting for me in front of the building. We both waited for hours, figured the other was a no-show and went our separate ways, my way being to return home.

“Feeling really desperate now, I talked to my older sister who taught at the same school I attended, and she helped me talk to the school administrators about graduating from high school early. I was a year ahead in all subjects since I came from a private school, and I only lacked senior English. My English teacher agreed to tutor me in senior English in the remainder of my junior year, then I started college instead of going to high school for my senior year. This is common now but was not common in the early 1970s. This was certainly a pivotal event for me. If I had left my family and home, who knows what might have happened. Perhaps nothing, with a quick return home or perhaps a high school drop out. I thrived in college, loving learning and valuing the educational experience, given the misery of my high school years. This certainly helped me to value the impact teachers and education in general can have on a person’s life and has motivated me to try to be an effective teacher.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Apr 4 2003. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry