Yet another local faculty member is going to appear on the gameshow, Jeopardy.
Just two weeks after Duquesne alumna Ally Bove took the stage, Westminster College Assistant Professor of Chemistry Dr. Patrick Lackey is going to appear on Jeopardy after several attempts to test his knowledge on the hit game show.
“I really started thinking about trying to be on ‘Jeopardy!’ when I was in graduate school at the University of North Carolina,” said Lackey.
Dr. Lackey said that he and a group of friends used to take the game show’s online test, which is used as an entry-level screening for those wanting to compete on the program. However, back then, the test was only offered a few days out of the year during the evening. If you missed your chance, you’d have to wait until next year.
His first encounter with Jeopardy came in 2013, when he was invited to an in-person interview in Nashville, took another test on paper and interviewed with the coordinators of the show.
Dr. Lackey was told he could receive a call within 18 months. He did not receive a call. During the summer of 2021, Dr. Lackey says family and friends urged him to take another shot at it.
“I found that the online tests were now available all the time, so I took it and thought I did pretty well,” he said.
Dr. Lackey did so well that he got the call during the fall semester to come out to California to compete on the program.
According to Westminster College, he is the second employee of the college to appear on Jeopardy. Dr. Richard Sprow did so in 1989.
Dr. Lackey’s episode will appear on January 20.
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