Instructor Fights the Effects of Cancer with Humor

Gibson fights the effects of cancer treatment with a jokes and inspirational interactions with his students.

by DAVID J. BOSTON

Dr. Dirk Gibson is known to students as a tough and humorous instructor, author and researcher. It seems those traits have helped enable Gibson to live through one of life’s greatest challenges---cancer.

No matter what he is writing about or what classes he is teaching Gibson said the effects of cancer and the treatment are going to stay with him. Yet he teaches several classes a semester with a lighthearteness and determination.

Gibson said the effects of radiation have made him physically weaker and altered his appearance a lot. He said he has noticed both old and new memory losses. He said some days he can go home at 4p.m. and go to take a nap and not wake up until the next day.

“There are some days when the black dog bites you,” Dr. Gibson said.

Gibson, 54, an Associate Professor of Mass Communication at UNM, has been in remission for two years after being diagnosed with stage four rectal cancer.His University of New Mexico profile can be found here.

The National Cancer Institute estimates that there will be 108,070 (colon); 40,740 (rectal) and 49,960 deaths (colon and rectal combined) in the United States this year alone.According the National Cancer Institute colorectal cancer is the fourth most common cancer in both men and women in the United States (click here for more information).

Gibson said while going through treatment for cancer he continued to teach and received support from staff at UNM including department administrator Shirley-Rey Lovato.

“There were times when you could see the pain in his face. Dirk felt bad about not being there with his students when he was too ill to make it to class. He was good about communicating with students so they knew that he was available to him even though he was sick,” Lovato said.

Lovato said they shared jokes together that helped lift their spirits during the tough times of Dr. Gibson’s treatment for cancer.

Gibson said Lovato used to encourage him to come to class when he wasn’t sure he could.

Gibson said the philosophy of his heroes influence his teaching method. He said he admires Aristotle, Confucius and Gandhi because they were honest people who put the truth before private self interests.

“There are two essential jobs of an instructor. The first is to find the truth and the second is to tell the truth,” Gibson said.

Many students who have had Gibson for a public relations or media ethics class say he’s a great instructor.

“His classes are so long but he makes them so interesting that the time flies by,” junior Andrew Lara said.

Senior Sarrie Colquitt said that Gibson likes to involve students in professional work and thinks students should be published before leaving school.

“He teaches for us, not for the pay,” Colquitt said.

Besides being an instructor, Gibson is a published author on a variety of subjects including communications, aerospace travel and serial killers.
Gibson has written “Serial Murder and Media Circuses” (2006) “Clues from Killers: Serial Murder and Crime Scene Messages” (2004) and “The Role of Communication in the Practice of Law” (1991) and numerous articles.

Gibson said he wrote about serial killers because he couldn’t get a book he had written about product recall published.

“I tried hard to publish this book on product recall. I know a bit about P.R. and no matter what format, I even tried a comic book form, nobody would touch it,” Gibson said.

He said he had to publish a book because “in academia you’re a third class citizen if you haven’t published something.”

He said he received a book on a mass murderer from his father and decided to research the subject.

“They say murder is a crime of passion, I think it’s about communication,” Gibson said.

More recently Gibson has published papers on aerospace travel. He said it interests him because it is the first time in history that he knows of that there has been what he calls “pre-industry marketing.”

“There’s big money being spent by rich people. Rich people usually hold on to their money. They know something that we don’t and I want to know what it is,” Gibson said.

Gibson said voters have recently approved spending taxpayer dollars on the building of a spaceport in Dana Ana, Sierra and Otero counties in New Mexico.

Between his research and teaching Gibson is in constant motion.

Gibson said he gets through the rough times with positive interactions with students and gets a thrill from student recognition of his teaching ability.

“Every day is a blessing,” Dr. Gibson said.

Written May 6, 2008

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