OT: Favorite Professor at TCU

[geezer]

Dr. Bohon. His group course in contemporary history was just great. Him getting so into his lecture subject that he'd erase the chalkboard with his hand and absentmindedly wipe it on his pants was just classic.

Dr Bohon also gets my vote. Had him for two semesters of Far East (i.e. Chinese) history. My memory of his lecture style is that he'd absentmindedly pace back and forth wall-to-wall across the front of the classroom. One day, a student arrived late and forgot to close the door to the classroom--which resulted in Dr Bohon's pacing track to extend out the door and into the hallway.

Dr Ben Proctor was a legend...had to really work to succeed in his classes.

 

[Limp Lizard]

Many on my list are retired or dead.

Dr. Flowers...he taught both my daughter and myself. Scared her the first day of class as a Freshman when he asked her if I was her dad (No he didn't say "Limp Lizard").

Dr. Reinecke...very dedicated. When I was in grad school (chemistry) he would walk the halls with his nose buried in a journal. It was up to others to prevent a collision.

Dr. Gustav Ferre. I had him for two philosophy classes. Very entertaining and at times intimidating person. Pushed everyone to think rationally. Was a Vice-President of University of North Texas for a while (1970's).

Dr. Keith Odom. A professor in English. I had him for the required Sophomore English course (yes, back then you had to take two years of English despite your HS coursework). World Lit. ...made it interesting and gave great exams which tested what you knew instead of what obscure facts you did not know. Later had him by taking a Senior level course as an elective: Russian and Scandinavian Novels...whew, 11 novels in a semester.

An Iranian grad student in an evening class for second semester calculus. This was when the Shah was still dictator of Iran and Iran was buddies with the US. He helped me to understand calculus and the effort math takes. I breezed through second-year calculus and the math parts of chemistry thanks to him.

 

[FROGLEGHOP]

Koehler

 

[Hoosierfrog]

D.R. Romanenghi head of languages. Was Argentinian and said he was Juan Peron’s former pilot! Anyway, he was a no nonsense guy. He didn’t believe in the language requirement and believed no one would learn a language if they didn’t want to. During mid terms of Spanish 1 in one of those long rooms with a door in one end and another in the back, he just disappeared out the front door. After a while he never showed (he was in the back after sneaking in the back door), about half the class started pulling out notes and books for peek. Everyone jumped up when he announced those who wanted to learn to continue, those who just wanted credit would get an automatic C. As I recall almost everyone gave it a shot. If you really tried he’d even let you look stuff up if you thought it would help you learn ( you still might get a C though). I got a C...

Dr Proctor in history, except when he pontificated on his days as a football player at UT.

 

[ftwfrog]

Was just thinking about this after the thread about majors. I can barely remember any of the professors from my major. I liked Mr T and Shannon Shipp from business school but not even sure what classes they taught.

I’m going to call bullship on Shipp.

20 years ago and i still remember him giving a midterm the Friday afternoon before Spring Break.

 

[PurplFrawg]

I was impressed with John Thompson as well. He really did seem to care about me and, I am sure many of his other students too.

He used to post on here as Yoda.

 

[frogs9497]

Easy. Chuck Becker and Nowell Donovan.

Worst--Arnold Barkman

Barkman did suck. And he was my academic advisor. I think one year they deemed his office a fire hazard and he was forced to somewhat organize the mounds of random papers that had accumulated over the last 15 years.

 

[PurplFrawg]

Prof Jim Jacobsen. was my role model and mentor. Took Bohon for History of WWII and it was outstanding. I was taking another of his courses in grad school and got the deployment notice for Desert Storm during one of the classes. Had to tell him I was dropping out due to my commitment, and he became almost emotional. He was a very good man. I remember Flowers' class as the one where half the football team was enrolled and showed up for the midterm and the final. They all made better grades than I did.

 

[jake102]

John Lovett
Schoolmaster
Barbara Wood
Laurie Wood
The Butlers

 

[dawg]

None of my favorite profs fell within my major (news-ed)

Bob Frye, English. I learned more about writing from one semester of honors freshman comp than in all four years of high school. His bar was high, he wasn't going to lower it for you, but it made you better. I still rank earning an A in his class as one of my proudest academic achievements.

Ken Stevens, history. Very engaging and you could tell he loved the subject matter and enjoyed teaching it.

Nadia Lahutsky, religion. Another whose bar was high. Tough but fair, and I really enjoyed her courses.

John T. Harvey. Was in his first class at TCU. He walked in late looking about 15 years old wearing a jean jacket and carrying a backpack. Dumped his pack on the desk and I thought this kid’s about to pull out his schedule and ask if he’s in the right class. Then he started in, “Jed Clampett walks in Mr. Drysdale’s office at First National Beverly Hills to makes a $35 million dollar deposit.” Got everyone’s attention and the entire semester went much the same way. He was a huge Eric Davis fan and used baseball to make lots of points in class.

Harvey lived two doors down from us when my family first moved to FW; The day we moved, he and his wife come over with a plate of brownies. He was a baseball and history nut, just like me. Great guy and neighbor. /csb

 

[Ray Finkle]

Barkman did suck. And he was my academic advisor. I think one year they deemed his office a fire hazard and he was forced to somewhat organize the mounds of random papers that had accumulated over the last 15 years.

I had him for Cost Accounting and had an appendectomy in the middle of finals of my last semester. I got a 148/150 in Survey of Musical Theater before going into the hospital that day for the operation. All my professors allowed me to keep my current grade in class and graduate but Barkman was going to give me a lower grade. I was pissed. He told the Dean that I was welcome to come back and take the exam after I healed-up and get whatever grade I had after the exam.

Problem with that, yeah, I started law school a week later. The Dean got involved and my father (told him how bad this professor was all semester) and I told the Dean that Barkman was far below the standard of just about every professor I had at TCU. TCU didn't want me going to grad school with a bad taste in my mouth and I got to keep my current grade. I was quite appreciative of this gesture by the university.

I hope Barkman is enjoying the retirement he should've taken years before he finally hung it up.

 

[jake102]

I had him for Cost Accounting and had an appendectomy in the middle of finals of my last semester. I got a 148/150 in Survey of Musical Theater before going into the hospital that day for the operation. All my professors allowed me to keep my current grade in class and graduate but Barkman was going to give me a lower grade. I was pissed. He told the Dean that I was welcome to come back and take the exam after I healed-up and get whatever grade I had after the exam.

Problem with that, yeah, I started law school a week later. The Dean got involved and my father (told him how bad this professor was all semester) and I told the Dean that Barkman was far below the standard of just about every professor I had at TCU. TCU didn't want me going to grad school with a bad taste in my mouth and I got to keep my current grade. I was quite appreciative of this gesture by the university.

I hope Barkman is enjoying the retirement he should've taken years before he finally hung it up.

Thanks Dad

 

[hiphopfroggy]

Galvin

 

[Zubaz]

Lovett - Cooky guy but a good teacher. I took more classes from him than anyone else at TCU.

Michael Butler - The answer to the extra credit is “Elvis”

Ingram - Astronomy teacher, not at all major related, just really enjoyed the class and clicked with his teaching style. Also seeing him get visibly frustrated that 90% of the class didn’t know what a Death Star was is still something I remember.

Who was the somewhat eccentric Accounting professor? She had big glasses, would say "Iiiii know it!" when making a point?

 

[Purp]

Dr. Mark Dennis
Dr. Ron Pitcock
Dr. Weltman
Dr. Andy Fort
Dr. Robert Rhodes

Glad to see Rhodes is still teaching. He was excellent. I did terrible in his class, but enjoyed the hell out of it. Barely made a B and thought it would be much worse. Apparently I wasn't the only one in the class struggling b/c the curve was my salvation.

I was impressed with John Thompson as well. He really did seem to care about me and, I am sure many of his other students too.

He’s by far my favorite. He helped me get my first job and helped advise me on my most recent job search. He’s a fantastic person.

I still keep up with Mr. T a bit. He's an awesome dude. I don't think he's teaching anymore, but he's still working as hard as ever to place students in jobs. He's one of the best people you'll meet.

John T. Harvey. Was in his first class at TCU. He walked in late looking about 15 years old wearing a jean jacket and carrying a backpack. Dumped his pack on the desk and I thought this kid’s about to pull out his schedule and ask if he’s in the right class. Then he started in, “Jed Clampett walks in Mr. Drysdale’s office at First National Beverly Hills to makes a $35 million dollar deposit.” Got everyone’s attention and the entire semester went much the same way. He was a huge Eric Davis fan and used baseball to make lots of points in class.

Chuck Becker. Seriously was more proud of the C I made in his class than many of the A’s I made at TCU. A sweet man who inspired me to invest on my own for the first time.

Ben Procter. Dude was a legend but one of those hot cold professors - you either loved or hated him. I totally got his schtick and loved his classes. Took as many as I could. Favorite quote, “Have you been to (fill in blank with any destination)? Well that’s rough country and if you’ve ever been there you know what I’m talking about.”

Harvey is fantastic. Huge Star Wars geek too. I started out with an econ minor that eventually morphed into a major. I was there when Episodes 1 - 3 came out so he did a lot of Star Wars geeking too. My first encounter with him was actually for another professor's econ class. For whatever reason Dr. Mike (not Doug) Butler couldn't administer his final so Harvey came to proctor the exam for us. A few minutes after passing all the exams out he stood up on the desk in the front of the room for several minutes. Told a few jokes and then carried on with a few other entertaining distractions throughout the exam. Really lightened the mood in the room and I liked him right from the jump.

Dr. Proctor was also one of my favorites. Fascinating guy. Played football at UT back in the leather helmet era. I was in his last class before he retired from teaching undergrad; an honors course on pre-Civil War U.S. History. He moved on to teaching a single grad course and then doing research on William Randolph Hearst (Proctor was his biographer). I started writing his little quips and sayings he went back to all the time and tallied them up over the course of the semester to figure out which ones he used the most. At the end of the class his wife had us over to their house for a Christmas party. We got him a retirement/Christmas card as a class and I wrote down all of those one-liners with the total of the number of times he used each one. He thought it was great, but his wife thought it was the greatest thing she'd ever seen. I saw her at the Albertsons at University and Berry a few years later and she remembered me for that card. Came half way down the aisle to confirm it was me and thank me profusely for doing it. I'm glad it went over better than a lead balloon.

 

[West Coast Johnny]

Dr. Geraldine Dominiak
Intermediate Financial Accounting

 

[West Coast Johnny]

Easy. Chuck Becker and Nowell Donovan.

Worst--Arnold Barkman

Barkman was horrible.

 

[WhiteHispanicFrog]

Lovett - Cooky guy but a good teacher. I took more classes from him than anyone else at TCU.

Michael Butler - The answer to the extra credit is “Elvis”

Ingram - Astronomy teacher, not at all major related, just really enjoyed the class and clicked with his teaching style. Also seeing him get visibly frustrated that 90% of the class didn’t know what a Death Star was is still something I remember.

Who was the somewhat eccentric Accounting professor? She had big glasses, would say "Iiiii know it!" when making a point?

Ingram is quite the eccentric genius.

 

[Purp]

John Lovett
Schoolmaster
Barbara Wood
Laurie Wood
The Butlers

You must have been an econ guy too. Lovett was quirky, but a great guy. My son's fascination with trains wil always remind me of his enthusiasm for the railroad. I never had Doug Butler, he started there my last year I think. But Mike Butler continues to be one of my favorite people ever. Excellent teacher of the econ and even better man. Dr. Rob Garnett is another of my favorites. I liked him so much I took 4 of his classes. History of Economic Thought is in the top 2-3 courses I took in college. Quinn's Financial History course may also be in that group. Drs. Meade and Zachariah in Supply Chain and Dr. Beata Jones in e-Business were also terrific people who invest in their students much the same way Mr. T is known for. I was blessed to have some outstanding professors who made it fun to learn.

Dr. Richard Enos may be the most important professor I ever had. I always got credit in high school for being a good writer, but the D- I got from him on my first paper in college was a real eye opener. He taught me how to write well and, had I not taken his course, I likely wouldn't have done as well in college. I didn't finish the honors program at TCU b/c back then there wasn't a practicable track for business students, but all the professors I had for honors courses were outstanding. Proctor, Enos, Garnett, and Butler really set a high bar.

Out of 175 hours at TCU I can only think of 3 professors that stand out as bad, though Van Jones and Shannon Shipp are near that group. Dr. Combrink for Discrete Mathematical Structures was, hands down, the very worst of the lot. Taught with his face 2 inches from the chalk board so everything he said was muffled, stood directly in front of his solutions as he was working them on the board so you couldn't follow him in real time taking notes, and wrote illegibly so you couldn't go back and get the notes after he moved to a new section of board. I made a C due to the curve, but my average in the course was a 47 after the final. Elliott in econ and Bridges in e-Business were the others that stand out as bad. I did well in their classes, but they weren't pleasant people like nearly everyone else I found on campus.

 

[Purp]

Michael Butler - The answer to the extra credit is “Elvis”

Or Marilyn.