With the start of the fall semester, professors across the University of Virginia are back on Grounds juggling multiple courses. But there are likely few with subjects as varied as Jon Tupitza, an assistant professor of practice in data science by day who teaches both karate and judo to UVA faculty and staff in the evenings.
Tupitza teaches an undergraduate class in the School of Data Science that surveys different systems and popular methodologies to give students an overview of what they’ll face in a potential internship or job. His course focuses on retrieving data from various systems and making it more useful for reporting and predictive analytics.
Tupitza’s karate and judo classes are part of a large package of fitness courses offered to UVA faculty and staff. (Photo by Lathan Goumas, University Communications)
A longtime Microsoft employee, Tupitza has taught in the School of Data Science for more than three years. During his first semester teaching, he discovered UVA Recreation offered free fitness classes for faculty and staff. He offered his services as a martial arts instructor, creating the Hoos Well martial arts program.
“I’m teaching Okinawan karate and classical judo,” he said. “I also teach and practice various Okinawan and Japanese weapons arts outside of UVA.”
Originally from the Philadelphia area, Tupitza moved with his family to McLean when he was 15. That’s where he was introduced to the Korean martial art of taekwondo in a high school club. He continued his training at the Maryland Institute College of Art.
“I was lucky to train with Rodney Carroll, who assumed leadership of our club (at the Maryland Institute) at the start of my third year.” he said. “He was a fifth-degree black belt under Hiroyuki Hamada, who had established programs first at the College of William & Mary and then at Old Dominion University.”
Hamada trained a lot of very well-regarded martial artists, including Rodney and Tupitza’s long-time Sensei, Bill Stockey, a 10th-degree black belt.
