Kelly Weeks
For Dr. Kelly Pledger Weeks, teaching at Centenary is in some sense almost like being part of an extended family. During the mid 1950’s, her grandfather, W.F. Pledger taught sociology and religion at the College. Today, her husband, Dr. Matt Weeks teaches psychology at Centenary and is chair of the department. And for the past eight years, she has taught business classes while forming and maintaining relationships with her students that have gone beyond the classroom.
"That is what really makes the Centenary experience," she said. "It’s the personal relationships we have with our students. Professors and students can be involved in as much or as little as they want at Centenary. We see each other inside and outside of the classroom and get to know each other well. I also enjoy my students—they are smart and interesting, and I really enjoy getting to know them over the years and staying in touch after they graduate."
Close, personal relationships are not only important with students, she said, but also with members of the faculty. Since it is a small campus, she added, you have the ability to get to know professors from other academic areas.
"I love the intellectual dialogue around current events, research, etc. and hearing about all of these things from a variety of academic perspectives," Dr. Weeks said. "I am constantly learning from the other faculty members that in turn, make me a better teacher."
She loves sharing her passion for learning with her students and having the ability to closely interact with them and challenge them to become not only better students, but better people.
"I truly believe that our students are the future leaders of our world and I like to be involved in developing their intellectual curiosity, their drive to make a difference in the world, and their development into leaders that will change the world for the better."
What most people don’t know about me
I lived in the Czech Republic for two years after graduating from Rhodes. I taught English as a foreign language to Czech high school students
Favorite quote:
"Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." — Martin Luther King Jr.
Works published
Weeks, K.P., Weeks, M. & Willis-Muller, K. (2010). The adjustment of expatriate teenagers. Personnel Review, 39 (1), 24-43
Weeks, M., Weeks, K. P., & Daniel, R. (2008). Examining the implicit relationship between religious and nonreligious supernatural constructs. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 47, 599-611.
Weeks, K.P., Weeks, M. & Frost, L. (2007). The role of race and social class in compensation decisions. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 22 (7), 701-718.
Allen, D.G., Weeks, K.P., & Moffitt, K. (2005). Turnover intentions and voluntary turnover: The moderating roles of self-monitoring, locus of control, proactive personality and risk aversion. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90 (5), 980-990.
Lupfer, M.B, Weeks, K.P., Doan, K.A., & Houston, D.A. (2000). Folk conceptions of fairness and unfairness. European Journal of Social Psychology, 30, 405-428.