Stories

Class of 1967

Fifty-nine years ago, I walked up to the third story of Kenna (which was the last year that it would be a dorm). Thus began four wonderful years at SCU. It was the 1960s and most of us were going to save the world—what bravado! My intent was to be a lawyer in some kind of poverty law capacity. I started as an English major, but quickly fell in love with History. Within a year, I changed my major to History with an objective to teach at the high school level. A year later, having fallen in love with the discipline, my career sights moved up the academic ladder to the college level. These changes were all due to some incredibly wonderful professors: Beilharz, Hanna, Meier, and especially Tim O’Keefe and George Giacomini. Their collective influence on me led to a forty-two-year career as a History Professor at Mt. San Antonio College in Southern California.

My wonderful professors at SCU showed me what good teaching was all about. My own style was taking a little bit from each of them as I developed my own approach to teaching History. Tim O’Keefe showed me the value of solid research. Even though I spent 99% of my professional time as a classroom Professor and published only one short article, my lectures, my willingness to enhance my repertoire with new material, and my ability to help my students in their research projects owe a huge debt to Tim. George Giacomini was my mentor. His influence on my career was enormous. His lecture style, his “shot gun” identifications on his exams, and his passionate commitment to the discipline provided me with a wonderful foundation. Both Tim and George had wonderful senses of humor. They were also willing to recognize being stumped by a student’s question and promising to find an answer by the next class period. These qualities are the essence of good teaching.

During my career, I was honored as the educator of the year, privileged to be the commencement speaker in 2010, and served as the Department Chair from 2008 until my retirement in 2012. I worked with a think tank in Newton Massachusetts in the development of a curriculum in multi-ethnic/racial American History. I held a variety of positions in our Academic Senate and in our Union. I was awarded a summer fellowship by the National Endowment of the Humanities to spend a wonderful six weeks in an Ethnic History seminar at Columbia University in New York City.

I shall be forever grateful to SCU in general and especially to the History Department. It has been my pleasure to be able to provide some money to the Department over the last several years. More significantly, to see the growth, ever-increasing diversity, and continual excellence of the Faculty demonstrates that I made a wonderful choice to attend SCU and to major in History.