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 Dr. Rex R. Campbell 

Professor Emeritus, Department of Rural Sociology, Social Sciences Unit, College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri 65211

About Dr. Campbell

Starting out as a poor farm boy from Barton County in southwest Missouri. His grade schools were in two different one-room schools. In retrospect, his humble beginnings could not foreshadow the future for this activist and scholar. Dr. Campbell notes that his "success" resulted from equal amounts of luck and perspiration". The Army found that he was above average in fifteen of the sixteen aptitude tests they administered so they provided he called his "first international experience" the Korean War conflict. Ultimately Dr. Campbell would establish a rich professional career. He chaired 65+ graduate degree programs (M.S. & Ph.D.) plus served on many “outside” member committees in several departments plus advising several honors students. He taught more than 600 courses (numerous honors and writing intensive), developed probably 20 new courses and taught c.12,000 students (many courses enrolled 200 – 400 students).

Education

Ph.D.	Rural Sociology, University of Missouri-Columbia, 1965

M.S. in Agricultural Extension, University of Missouri, 1959

B.S. in Agricultural Extension, University of Missouri, 1952

Academic Career

Assistant &  Associate Professor Department of Rural   1965-1972

Full Professor: Sociology                              1972

Chairperson: University of Missouri - Columbia 		1974-1979

Chairperson: University of Missouri - Columbia		1985-1990

Editor: The Rural Sociologist		               1989-1991

Retired: 2007

Service

University Graduate Faculty Senate, Faculty Council, College of Agriculture Policy Committee, and numerous other committees. Served on several regional and national committees. Past president of Art and Archeology Museum Associates. 6 years on Columbia Planning and Zoning Commission. Past president of Quarry Heights Neighborhood Association. Currently: member, MU Carnegie Teaching Academy, 4th Ward Councilperson, City of Columbia (10 Years), Chair of Columbia/Boone Community Partnership, other boards and commissions.

Publications

More than one hundred articles, books and popular publications including Society and the Environment: The Coming Collision (with Jerry Wade), Black Migration to the North (with Daniel Johnson). Quoted in New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, U.S. News and World Report, Parade, Post Dispatch, Kansas City Star, CNN, CBS, PBS and other regional and national publications

Awards

1969 Gamma Sigma Delta – honor society

1989 Provost’s Award for Outstanding Extension and Continuing Education Work 1996, 1999, 2000 Greek Recognition for Outstanding Faculty Members 1998 Outstanding Teacher, College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources 1998 Faculty Tap, Mystical Seven Honorary Society 1998 Outstanding Teaching Award, National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges

1999 William T. Kemper Fellow for Teaching Excellence 1999 MU Alumni Association Faculty Award

1999 Governor’s Award for Teaching Excellence – MU 2000 Martin Luther King, Jr. Award, Central Missouri NAACP Committee 2000, 2007 Most Inspiring Teacher, MU Athletic Department 2000 Outstanding Teaching Award, Rural Sociological Society

2004 Outstanding Graduate Faculty Mentor (Marshall at Graduate Commencement) 2014 Lucile Bluford Lifetime Achievement Award, Missouri Commission on Human Rights 2016 Allan W Purdy Award for Dedication to Students

Dr. Campbell's Principles of Undergraduate Teaching:

1. 	I facilitate learning - learning of new or new insights into old information.

2.	I attempt to motivate students to learn - not by fear nor by threat.

3. 	The process of learning in college should be a partnership.

4.	A very important part of my role to “set the scene” for learning by providing the right opportunities both in and outside the classroom.

5.	The most important element in learning is personal participation by the learner.

6.	All college students are adults and must be treated as such. 7.	Each student is a unique individual with unique talents and experiences.

8. 	Learning is much broader than mere classroom activities. 9.	Most classroom learning at the college level is compartmentalized.

10.	To be most effective, new information must be integrated into thought and behavior patterns. 11. 	Most students are capable of much greater learning than occurs in most classes. They are not motivated enough to participate up to their capacity.

12.	I am thoroughly convinced that the vast majority of students in almost any class are capable of learning a large amount and achieving a high level of attainment.

13.    Students, consciously or unconsciously, play the academic game. I want to reduce this gamesmanship by creating different expectations, different roles which stimulate a person to learn beyond the traditional student roles.

14.	Students learn more from good examples and models than they do from criticism of their own work. 15.	The traditional lecture-test methods of teaching encourage memorization. I want to go beyond that to critical thinking and behavioral change.

16.	The most successful classes are those where the students bond and become very active players in the learning process. 17.	Students react very positively to a TQM approach where they are treated as customers - mature, capable individuals.

A Little More About Dr. Campbell...


 * A certified appraiser of art and antiques. In the mid-1980s, He worked with the first edition of the "Best of Missouri’s Hands."
 * Dr. Campbell has an extensive collection of Chinese pottery and ceramics as well as and antique ivory, porcelain and glassware
 * Another favorite activity is walking – walking on the M.K.T. trail or through the neighborhoods of Columbia. "Walking gives me a chance to think, to look and to appreciate life."
 * Rex served on the Columbia Missouri Council for more than eight years, three as mayor pro tem. "I represented the 4th ward that contained more than 13,000 people residing in the area south of Broadway, west of Providence Road and north of the M.K.T. trail.

Family Life

Mary and Rex have been married for over 45 years and we lived in the same small house close to campus for 36 years. "One could not ask for a more wonderful and fortunate life." A Little about Mary: Mary graduated from the University of Arkansas in 1953 with B.S. in Home Economics and taught grade school in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Mary helped Rex get through graduate school through work in the Department. Mary worked as a volunteer for several years in the MU Museum of Art and Archeology Gift Shop. Later, she ran a mail order bookstore selling books on country living and farming.

Donations and the Spirit of Giving

Rex and Mary have donated all of their entire estate to the University of Missouri College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. The legacy funding will be used for low income student scholarships and the development of an institute designed to improve teaching and learning strategies.

A Message From Rex & Mary

The transmission of culture from one generation to the next is one of the most important processes for the maintenance and enhancement of our civilization. Two important elements are essential in this process: the next generation of students and the instructors who frame and transmit the vast amount of information. Both, the sender and the receiver must work at the communication process for it to be the most effective, but it is our observation that is usually a very imperfect process with great room for improvement. Over the many years that we watched and participated in the educational process, we noticed both significant successes and also less than satisfactory results. As we look around at the current and probable-near future MU – CAFNR scene, it seems highly that the need for changes in academic programs will actually increase. Greater implementation of the G-5 communications and A-I seem likely to have very great future impacts on education. We are leaving it with the observation that much work remains to be done to achieve optimum future results from these innovations. We have had our opportunities, now the many challenges are yours. Obviously, we believe you can go far. We are betting our money that you can and will.

The rapidly changing communication technology and the increasing population are going to offer many challenges. We cannot over emphasize the rapid changes that have occurred and will occur in the coming decades in both what is information and how if flows. It is vitally important that communicators, such as professors be sensitive to this constant flux of both words and other symbols in the communication process.

Our primary concern is not for the children from the upper one percent or similar families, but for the millions of youth in the lower income tiers. These are the ones being left behind currently in American society. We realize it will take extra efforts by CAFNR and MU for these students to succeed, most of whom are first generation college students, several may from minority groups. We strongly believe that most students have the potential for success. For example, getting several good internships, often unpaid, will be very important for your having successful careers. Those students moving up the social will also need s to learn middle class social skills – how to behave in a variety of settings. Middle class students have learned these at home and/or in high school and often have opportunities to polish such skills in college fraternities and sororities. These opportunities are often beyond the finances of working class students. Many These potentially, productive citizens will come from poor quality schools and homes where the vocabularies have been limited. The native capacities are there, but the opportunities to develop and express them has not. It will be an excellent investment by MU and society to provide such opportunities, perhaps in partnership with community colleges and other groups.

“… the odds against children who come from families earning the median income or less actually graduating from college seem to grow more formidable” (New York Times, April 8, 2018, page SR 8). My wife, Mary, and I beat the odds to success and we want to help you and the future generations to do the same.

We are devoting our entire estate to seven vital programs of MU-CAFNR. To support these programs, we have established The Rex and Mary Campbell Scholars Fund. However, because our assets are currently invested, we are unsure of their future total value. Some decisions will have to wait for the assets to be sold. Therefore, we have added conditional statements in places as appropriate. Most important to us are the establishment of two types of scholarships for low income and talented students. Important is the Teaching and Learning Institute, which will enhance the learning process by improving the instructors and the learning facilities. Also very important are applied research opportunities at all levels from beginning undergraduates to post-doctoral. All students need to develop sensitives as to what is accurate information and how it can be most effectively used to help everybody in rural America.

Additional Resources

1. CAFNER ‘The Gift of Curiosity’ Longtime CAFNR professor to be honored for work done both in the classroom and in city government: Written by Stephen Schmidt · April 21, 2016 https://cafnr.missouri.edu/2016/04/the-gift-of-curiosity/

2. Rex and Mary Campbell: a Legacy of Teaching:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCYZjbht1jI

Page Design This page represents a part of the Missouri Sociological Association recognizing Missouri Sociologists Project. In 2018 the MSA Missouri Sociological Association Created an new state award called the "Rex Campbell Award for Scholar Activism". This award was design to recognize and immortalize Missouri sociologists with a legacy of service the academic, scholarly and local community. Dr. Campbell was honored at the 2018 Missouri Sociological Association (MSA) Conference at Lincoln University in Jefferson City Missouri. Dr. Campbell was also recognized with a proclamation from the Columbia mayor. Dr. Sharon Squires, project coordinator.