Some Info About Dr. C.

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My name is Alfred Carey Carpenter and I teach human anatomy and human physiology to pre-medical professional students at Palomar College. About Dr. C.

I go by my middle name, but most of my students simply call me “Dr. C.”; I’m really not sure if the “C” stands for “Carey” or “Carpenter”.

Before coming to Palomar, I was at Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham, Oregon. I taught anatomy, physiology, biology, and a course I developed titled “Science and Pseudoscience”. It was one of toughest decisions I ever made, but in 1997, after 15 years in Oregon, we decided to return California.

In 1981 I received a PhD in physiology from the University of California, Berkeley. While finishing up my degree, I taught at Mills College in Oakland, Mission College in Santa Clara, and California State University, Hayward (now Cal State East Bay). Prior to Berkeley, I attended UC Riverside where I received a bachelor’s degree in biology.

My first college experiences were at West Valley Community College in Saratoga, California, where I received some of the best college-level instruction I would ever receive. In fact, one of the reasons I chose to teach at a community college was because of my experiences at West Valley.

I attended Blackford High School in San Jose, California. It was here that I developed my fascination with the subject of biology that has lasted my entire life; this was almost entirely due to my sophomore-year biology teacher, Mr. Frederick Fischer. Yes, teachers do matter!

FWIW: I was born in Scottsbluff, Nebraska. I spent my 1st semester of kindergarten in Gehring, Nebraska, and my 2nd in Los Angeles. When I was 10, the family moved to San Jose.

My hobbies include reading, playing the piano, writing and recording songs, and messing with my MacBook, Galaxy, iPad, and Kindle. Way back in the day, I was a piano player in a rock’n’roll band; here I am, wearing a disguise.

Like many others, my life story is not particularly exciting, but no matter: we all live in a tremendously exciting universe. One of my greatest joys comes when I can successfully convey to my students just how amazing the universe is, beginning with the two courses that are the ultimate in self-discovery, courses that bring to light the reasons why we can appreciate the universe in the first place: human anatomy and human physiology.

A. Carey Carpenter

About Dr. C.