John Clevenger is a self-admitted tough teacher, but would not have it any other way.

“My goal is not to teach an easy course, it is to teach a beneficial, meaningful, interesting class,” Clevenger said. Regardless of how hard his classes may seem, Clevenger said he gets students coming back to him saying how useful the information is.

Clevenger’s specialty is in computer graphics and he teaches several computer science electives involving graphics programming. His doctorate was in computer graphics, and when the computer graphics professor in the department left, he was happy to take over. But Clevenger’s classes aren’t all just fun and games.

Among computer science students, Clevenger is known for his tough but productive style of teaching.

“He’s just a really efficient man. I look up to him,” said Josh Christanelli, senior computer science major and one of Clevenger’s students. “He knows exactly what to say at the right times.”

“He is the professor, one of the top three,” said Tim Bender, senior computer science major.

Clevenger said he models his teaching style after a computer science professor he had as a student, Joel Gyllenskog. He tries to give his students the opportunity to do as much as they can, giving them a physical way of looking at what can be a hard concept to grasp.

“I learned the most and was most interested when the class was hands-on, practical stuff rather than abstract,” Clevenger said.

Clevenger, who is married with two boys, really got into computer gaming when his son got hooked on games.

He said what most people don’t realize is that gaming systems, such as the X-Box 360 and PlayStation consoles, are really just computers with one purpose: to play games.

“It’s just a really complex computer,” Clevenger said, “but it’s a computer in all regards.”

The Outstanding Teacher award is just one of Clevenger’s many accomplishments during his teaching career. He has researched with IBM working on a collegiate level computer programming competition known as PC2.

Clevenger is drawing up a computer gaming and graphics major with other professors within the department and university.

Rachel Clarke, an electronic arts professor, has worked with Clevenger for about four years now. Clarke teaches 3-D computer graphics and is cross-listed within the computer science department. She is currently working on 3-D computer modeling and computer animation courses that will fit in with the computer graphics program.

“We’ve been able to discuss the program fruitfully,” Clarke said. Scott Gordon and another professor in the computer science department go back and forth with ideas and collaborations on the program.

While at Sacramento State, Clevenger finally settled on a computer science major after he tried out German, music, chemistry and communication studies.

Former professor Cal Salls watched Clevenger’s savvy computer skills develop and encouraged him to take some introductory computer programming courses.

In Boy Scouts, Clevenger developed a hands-on, practical outdoorsman-like attitude toward life, contrary to the stereotypical image of a computer science major. He admitted that Boy Scouts played a huge role in his decisions and life goals. The first thing Clevenger taught was Boy Scout merit badge courses. Both his sons are in Boy Scouts; Clevenger served as an assistant scout master for a period of time.

Anne Morrison can be reached at [email protected].