Professor David Raker, M.A.
Email: draker@cedarcrest.edu
Room: SCI 124
Ex: 3684
Professor David Raker was born and raised in the Wilkes-Barre, PA area (better known as the Wyoming Valley, NEPA or the Hayna Valley). He has been teaching at Cedar Crest College since January 2000. His primary teaching responsibilities are the general chemistry laboratory and evening lecture sections, and the introductory course of astronomy. He also teaches sections of the physical chemistry laboratory and instrumental analysis laboratory. Professor Raker loves interacting with the students and telling them jokes.
Professor Raker created a comic strip as an undergraduate student called “Mr. Chemist’s Neighborhood”. The comic strip depicts the fictional (and somewhat non-fictional) life in the Cedar Crest College chemistry department. The strip is also a parody of “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood”. Since 2003, the comic strip has appeared in the student newspaper, “The Crestiad”. Plans are in the works for publication of a series of these strips in cooperation with a local comic book store.
Professor Raker is also interested in digitally re-mastering old tapes and records that contain hiss, pops, crackle, etc. His goal is to preserve music and speeches from the 1900’s – 1940’s. He hopes to publish a compilation of interviews with former African-American slaves that were conducted from the 1930’s to the 1970’s. The publication will consist of a set of CDs and transcripts from these interviews.
