Pingel, who graduated from Fort Dodge Senior High in 1998, is an associate professor at St. Catherine University, a private Catholic liberal arts institution that was first established in 1905.

Along with his current position, Pingel has also taught at the University of Northern Iowa, Hawkeye Community College, Hamilton College, the University of St. Thomas and the University of Minnesota since 2004.

“I think part of me always felt that I wanted to be a teacher of some kind,” Pingel said. “When I entered college at UNI, I started as a music education major. I switched to an English major partway through, not necessarily to become a teacher or professor, but more because I actually didn’t know what I wanted for a career at that point, and a degree in English was something that could give me flexibility as well as getting to learn more about something I loved–literature.

“Eventually, when I was in graduate school, I began teaching freshman classes through the teaching assistantship package I was offered. I didn’t really know yet how to structure a class, and I made a lot of mistakes, but I felt I was a pretty good communicator and I was really interested in getting better.”

Prior to coming to St. Catherine, Pingel was on the campus of Minnesota, which is the second-largest school in terms of students in the Big Ten Conference and ranks 16th overall in the nation. He holds degrees from both Northern Iowa and Minnesota.

“The University of Minnesota has around 51,000 students and St. Catherine has 4,700. That kind of size difference has a huge influence on the kinds of interactions professors and students are able to have,” Pingel said. “When I was (at Minnesota), I was getting a Master of Fine Arts in poetry, and as a grad student, I had all the access I wanted with the tenured faculty.

“But undergraduates often take general education in large lecture halls of 200, usually with breakout discussion sections run by teaching assistants. That’s what I was at the time, so it was me, the grad student, and not the professor, who was often put in charge of those personal interactions with students.”

For Pingel, the opportunity to work more closely with students made St. Catherine the ideal landing point.

“St. Catherine is very different. We are a small liberal arts school that is more focused on the student-teacher relationship,” he said. “Class sizes are much closer to around 20. Because it’s a mission-driven school with a strong social justice emphasis built around creating women leaders, it’s actually necessary that we remain small so that we can focus on who and what we are.”

Pingel teaches a variety of subjects at the moment, with his expertise being in writing and literature.

“I have taught a lot of creative writing, literature and composition courses,” he said. “I also frequently teach our introductory mission course called ‘The Reflective Life,’ which involves a lot of social justice issues related to women’s issues, anti-racism, environmental concerns and many issues I care deeply about.

“I think students are much more globally minded now, and enter school familiar with these issues, and are hungry for more.”