JESSICA ROTTER
Staff Writer
Dr. Donna Nofziger Plank, associate professor of biology, has quite an unusual combination of passions: family, community in God, teaching and science. She has been a professor since 1998 after receiving her Ph. D. from UCLA and her B.A. in biology from Baylor.
Since she was a child, she always knew that science was her thing.
“When I was a little kid I would ask for chemistry sets and microscopes and I would find frogs in the backyard,” Nofzinger Plank said. “I always knew I wanted to be a scientist or something… a physician, a teacher.”
Even though she liked every subject she studied, she always returned to science.
“Science always drew me home.”
Nofzinger Plank loves working at Pepperdine and raves about how happy she is here. “I love it here, it’s a great place to work.”
As a developmental biologist, she describes it as “the story of becoming.”
When she teaches she wants her students to understand that science is not a noun — it is not a bunch of memorization and studying what we already know.
“Science is a verb,” she said. “It’s a way of thinking and a way of seeking answers. The more you learn, the more questions arise. You answer a question but you bring up 10 more. The more we understand, the more humbled we are by what we do not know.”
Her ability to impart an understanding of the fun of science is one of the many things that make her a great teacher.
She runs a week-long science summer camp for middle school kids. She wants the kids to understand that “science is treasure hunting and the treasure is knowledge.”
When one does gain this new knowledge it is only a “tiny thimble-full of knowledge—the more you know, the more you realize you don’t know. You just keep on going.”
Her students love that approach.
She was the visiting faculty member in Buenos Aires last year with her husband and daughters. Many of her students felt compelled to speak out about how great she is.
“I absolutely loved her,” said senior Jen Iso. “She pushed us inside and outside of the classroom and would never ask us to do anything she wouldn’t be willing to do. She has been such an inspiration to all of the overseas kids and to this day we still consider the Plank’s house our home away from home.”
Senior Chris Lopez agreed. “Dr. Plank is one of those rare teachers that makes you want to go to class. She’s caring, passionate and enthusiastic about her class, students, and family. I’d have to say that my favorite part of having her as a teacher was she made class fun. Though she demanded a lot out of me and other people, there was never a day I dreaded going to her class… She just rocks at life!”
Anna McLaurin said that “aside from being an awesome professor, Dr. Plank is a great person. When I studied in Argentina with her, I knew that she cared about her students more than grades. She made sure that we understood everything clearly. If we were interested in a specific topic she would spend more time on that just because we wanted to. She was always available outside of class to talk about school or just life in general—even after we left the international program.
“Even though I don’t have her as a professor anymore, I still talk to her about anything because I know that she cares about me and wants the best for me. She’s kind of like a really cool mom.”
She loves teaching as much as her students love learning from her.
“I have the best job in the world,” she said. “It is perfect! You get to study what you love and then speak to a captive audience of students about it.”
Although at one point in time she would have claimed science as her highest passion, she has realized that she is “a little bit more balanced” in her life and that “science is one of [her] passions but [her] family is number one.”
She also explained how she loves being a part of the Pepperdine community.
“I have a passion for being a part of a community and being a part of a group of people. I have always been more of a solitary person… I realize what I’ve been missing all these years.”
Pepperdine has enabled her to combine all of her passions in a unique way. She is able to experience her community and be with her family and friends in the same place as her science, her teaching, and her church. She and her husband Doug Plank was three daughters.
Dr. Plank has a real gift for combining aspects of life that are seemingly contradictory to some. The pseudo-battle between God and science is one that the media tends to publicize every so often. Interestingly, Dr. Plank would consider both God and science important and necessary.
Growing up in a conservative Christian home, Dr. Plank always feared that at some point in time during her science studies, “the bomb would drop” and she’d “hear something or learn something that would reveal ‘oh my gosh, maybe there’s not a God.’ But the opposite happened. The more [she] learned, the bigger and bigger God became.”
Her vision of God has evolved from the “magician in the sky who went poof poof poof” to an indescribable transcendent being who is above natural science.
“I give God credit for what we can’t explain and I give God credit for what we can explain, that way God is bigger than any of that. By putting God above it all, I am not threatened by anything science comes up with.”
When she does experiments and learns new things, she always keeps God in conversation and asks, “Is this really how you would do it, God?”
Although she has doubts and questions like everyone else, she does not view it as a bad thing.
“If you don’t have doubt then you don’t need faith. If you are absolutely certain, you don’t need faith anymore. Doubt and faith go hand in hand and they actually strengthen each other.”
Science has forced her to really think about what she believes and to separate her childhood “pat answers” from what actually is. She is grateful that she is in a place like Pepperdine where she is able to talk to theologians and students and learn and grow in her faith.
As a developmental biologist, she deals with embryonic cells and adult stem cells. She explained that there is a lot of propaganda out there regarding the embryonic stem cell controversy and because it has become so politicized, people only hear parts of the story. She thinks it is too early to know where exactly all the stem-cell research is going.
However, she does have her personal beliefs on the controversy.
“From a personal level it is hard to think of a human embryo as a commodity. We should err on the side of caution. I tend to have more of a problem with the way we cavalierly treat a human embryo. It is something very very special. If we see it as a commodity we don’t see the magic and the miracle in human life.”
She speaks to the wonder of an embryo from experience. She has three daughters and has experienced the way an embryo takes control of the mother’s body. She knows that from the moment an egg becomes an embryo it is a new person.
Dr. Plank believes that faith should not be separated from science in the classroom and she encourages her students to speak from their diverse faith backgrounds. She believes that a discussion where faith and heritage must be unnaturally removed (because of a strict dogma or a strict avoidance of religion) is an inefficient one.
However, she also thinks it is wrong for a scientist to try to prove a philosophical or supernatural point or to try to use science to prove or disprove God. In Dr. Plank’s eyes, science should deal solely with the natural world. Anything outside of the natural world is not science.
She is currently writing a grant proposal to deal with issues of science and religion and remind the general public that they can coexist and the battle between the two is unnecessary. She wants to model a different kind of interaction.
Just as people separate science and religion, they tend to separate the arts from the sciences. One is considered “right brained” and one is considered “left brained.” However, Dr. Plank has pointed out that science is very artistic and creative.
“The artistic process and the scientific process are very similar. There is a lot of creativity involved. Science and art are side by side. You find a lot of scientists have an artistic side… are gifted musically… they have this appreciation for art.”
Dr. Plank’s heart for teaching and service is, according to her students, an amazing example for how a professor should be. She has been blessed with an ability to keep everything in balance and use all of the talents and passions God has given her.
FACT BOX
Developmental biologist
Graduated UCLA with a Ph.D. in 1998
Currently working on a research project with a colleague at UCLA and some Pepperdine students to find out what triggers a certain subset of adult stem cells to become fat or bone or stay immature.
Has three daughters:
-almost 9
-7
-almost 4
05-18-2007