"A teacher has to teach from the fire of their belly, ..."
At the beginning of his success,
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For 10 years following his graduation, Hasenstab taught math and science for grades six through nine in his home state of New Jersey. Prepared to teach with a desire from as far back as he could remember, Hasenstab quickly recognized that he needed more skills in order to be an excellent teacher instead of just a very good one. An influential professor of philosophy, Earl Cunningham, had once told him, "Decide where you want to have been when you draw your last breath." These words rang loudly and were the impetus that set Hasenstab on a lifelong commitment to teach teachers how to be outstanding teachers. While a student at Northeast Missouri State Teachers College, then president, Walter H. Ryle III challenged him and another student to study well enough to win the debate award. Spending more than 500 hours at the Bulldog Inn with Professor Cunningham and Dr. Ryle himself, Hasenstab was determined to meet the challenge and he did. This was the beginning of his success. What makes someone successful became the focal point of his quest, certain that the answer would provide the means for improving teacher education. After ten years of teaching, Hasenstab decided to research the attributes common to successful people. By conducting extensive interviews of top practitioners, teachers and criminal investigators, Hasenstab compiled data that indicated key attributes possessed by successful people. His conclusion was simple - those who invest in the greatest number of diverse activities become the most successful. Hasenstab himself led an active college life at Truman as president of Blue Key, and as a member of the Historical Society, Oral Interpreters, Sigma Tau Gamma, Who's Who, Young Democrats, Pi Kappa Delta, Student Council and the football team. Utilizing his newfound information, Hasenstab continued field testing and began his own company dedicated to teaching success skills, Performance Learning Systems, Inc. By offering "courses" that teach verbal skills, counseling, group team work, how we learn, patterns for ideas, motivation and others, Hasenstab was able to help others achieve their goals. In 1972, with the assistance of a Federal Grant to continue research development, Hasenstab provided his services to the New York City Police Department for detective training. The verbal skills course was widely used for negotiation training. Recognizing that his heart was still truly tied to teacher education, Hasenstab changed his company to focus solely on teacher education. "A teacher has to teach from the fire of their belly," Hasenstab said. Performance Learning Systems is a national training design firm committed to teacher education. Since 1973, the company has trained more than 400,000 teachers across the country by providing the necessary teaching skills that, combined with an innate "fire in the belly," produce success. During the 1997 Homecoming festivities, Joseph K. Hasenstab, of Nevada City, Calif., was honored as the Alumnus of the Year for his dedication to teacher education and his continuing commitment to Truman. |
When Joe Hasenstab graduated from Truman
in 1960 with a bachelor's degree in social science education, those who
knew him weren't surprised that he became a teacher. But, Hasenstab didn't
stop there. He went on to train thousands of teachers nationwide.