Published Friday, March 7, 2003
Reddick Conquers TV's Jeopardy
By Curtis Fazen
APPIAN STAFF WRITER

There was much talk on campus about a certain HGSE student who recently appeared on the television quiz show Jeopardy. That student was Rich Reddick. Reddick was a Jeopardy “champion” on Friday, and then went on to defend his title the next Monday. Reddick might have stayed on indefinitely as a champion if not for the demands of his doctoral work back in Cambridge.

While out on the west coast, Reddick traveled to Albuquerque to examine the role of the National Campus Diversity Project at the University of New Mexico. Diversity is an element of Reddick’s research, but in particular he is investigating the student experience at historically black colleges and universities. So far it has been shown that black students are happier, perform better academically, and are better prepared professionally at historically black colleges than their counterparts at other schools.

Rich is originaly from Texas, but he grew up as an Airforce “brat” living on bases all over the world. For college, Reddick attended the University of Texas at Austin. While a student he had his first taste of television gameshows with an appearance on “Wheel of Fortune.” After graduating Reddick worked as a teacher in Houston as part of Teach for America. He made a connection with a HGSE student, and he enrolled in the masters program here the next year in 1997. After completing his degree Reddick went to Cal-Poly, San Luis Obispo as Coordinator of Student Development. In California, Reddick also appeared on the show “Win Ben Stein’s Money.” Soon after that he returned to HGSE to begin work on his doctorate. Rich is married, and his wife Sherry, works in the Career Services Office.

Curtis Fazen, Ed.M '03, was a student in the Human Development and Psychology Program and editor of The Appian in 2002-03.