As I walk through the halls with Curt Sutterfield there is no doubt that I chose the right person. Curt is a favorite professor among Broadcasting and Public Relation students. He is also very proud of it, in his office displays two awards. One award is for teaching students favorite class, Radio and TV Performance. The second award is for being a favorite professor among students. Curt also is an advisor for the registered student organization, The Alliance for Women in Media.
Curt connects with students on a different level than other professors because of his ability to relate his lectures to a college student’s life. Curt talks to students instead of down to them and treats them as an equal because he feels doing that will inspire students to do better.
Curt is also active on Twitter. He has about 335 follower’s majority of them being students. Curt encourages his students to follow him and when they tweet to @DigitalCurt, he always responds. If students tweet something about being upset or having a bad day, Curt likes to reply with words of encouragement.
On his Twitter page you will also find that he wrote in his bio that he is a “lover of the laugh.” This is displayed in his classroom. Sit in one of Curts class, I dare you to try and not laugh. Curt feeds off of energy in the classroom. He feels that it inspires students to do well.
Jordanne Jaskiw, a former student of Curts says, “He is a very influential professor. He challenges kids to step out of their comfort zone, and always keeps his lectures interesting and fun”
A recent story Curt told me is that he lost a friend and had to go to class. He was reading off slides, making no jokes and rushing to get through the day. The students built energy in the classroom and Curt felt it. Feeling that energy that students built by their selves made him feel really good. “Its amazing when you can get energy back,” Curt said. Curt loves his job because of situations like that.
Before Curt was a professor he was a producer at 9 & 10 news in Cadillac, MI and also a producer in Indiana and Arizona. He then decided to go back to school where he worked part-time at Ball State University.
Curt is also a husband and proud father to two daughters. His wife, Shannon is in promotions, they met when he was a producer in Indiana and had two beautiful children, McKinley and Story. McKinley is just starting Kindergarten. I asked him if the girls had any of his traits that scare him. Curt laughs, “Story wont quit taking.”
Outside of being a professor, husband and father, Curt is involved in Fantasy sports including college football, hockey, basketball, and baseball. He also watches a lot of TV, which is a result of being a producer and broadcasting professor. Some of his favorite shoes are Breaking Bad, Big Bang Theory and The Wire.
Curt is a busy, but a sarcastic, fun-loving, caring professor whose attributes make him Central Michigan’s Campus Celebrity.