{"id":22318,"date":"2014-10-17T15:35:17","date_gmt":"2014-10-17T19:35:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=22318"},"modified":"2014-11-10T15:19:23","modified_gmt":"2014-11-10T20:19:23","slug":"retired-long-time-science-and-math-professors-recall-teaching-wide-range-of-topics-in-original-suter-building","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2014\/retired-long-time-science-and-math-professors-recall-teaching-wide-range-of-topics-in-original-suter-building\/","title":{"rendered":"Retired, long-time science and math professors recall teaching wide range of topics in original Suter building"},"content":{"rendered":"

A hammer banged away on the $7 million renovation project of Suter Science Center<\/a> as six retired professors talked about their careers in the 46-year-old Eastern Mennonite University building. They gathered in the iconic 256-seat tiered SC-106 classroom on Oct. 11 as part of the 2014-15 Suter Science Seminar series<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cA classroom this size is now a rarity at EMU,\u201d observed Galen Lehman<\/a>, who was a student in SC-106 when it was brand-new and who studied under each of the professors on the panel. \u201cSmaller classes are the norm now.\u201d Lehman, who chaired the psychology department<\/a> that moved to the science center in 1981, retired earlier this year. He earned his PhD in applied experimental psychology at Virginia Tech University.<\/p>\n

Most of the professors on the panel arrived at EMU, fresh out of graduate school, around the time the state-of-the-art building, with its domed planetarium, opened in 1968. All six were EMU alumni. The science center had not yet been named for Daniel Suter<\/a>, longtime biology professor and pre-med advisor who retired in 1985 and died in 2006.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe highlight of my career was working with all these people,\u201d said Joe Mast, looking fondly at the row of colleagues to his right. \u201cWe formed quite a community.\u201d<\/p>\n

The six professors were a good fit for a small college, where they had to teach a variety of courses. But they were also a product of a college where they were encouraged to delve into a variety of subjects. Many of them were on faculty teams that taught “IDS” (interdisciplinary studies) courses that were required of all students in the 1970s.<\/p>\n

Clair Mellinger<\/a>, who earned his PhD in plant ecology from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, taught almost every science-related course, at one time or another, that didn\u2019t have \u201chuman anatomy\u201d or \u201cphysiology\u201d in its title. \u201cI even taught a nutrition course,\u201d he said. Over the years he became an expert on ornithology, the study of birds. For 25 years he was the curator of the Hostetter Museum of Natural History<\/a> in the science center.<\/p>\n

Kenton Brubaker, with a PhD in horticulture from Ohio State University, branched out to biology<\/a>, biochemistry, genetics, ecology and agriculture. \u201cI taught a course on cell biology, which was new to me but very exciting,\u201d he said. \u201cYears later I saw a former student who got a PhD in cell biology from Harvard. He said my course started his quest in the field.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNone of my nutrition students got a Harvard PhD in nutrition,\u201d retorted Mellinger.<\/p>\n

One of Brubaker\u2019s primary interests was international agriculture, fostered by a three-year teaching term in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the 1960s with Mennonite Central Committee<\/a>. Another interest that he pursued, beginning in the early 1970s, was environmental studies and conservation. He and Mellinger helped start a campus organization called Earthkeepers<\/a> that continues to this day.<\/p>\n

Brubaker, the oldest of the retiree group, joined the EMU faculty in 1959. The others came during the 1960s and early 1970s.<\/p>\n

The Suter Science panel discussion, coinciding with the 2014 Homecoming and Family Weekend<\/a>, attracted alumni who had studied in the building and sat in the professors\u2019 classes.<\/p>\n

Millard Showalter, who earned an EdD from the University of Virginia, taught in the mathematical sciences department. He followed five simple teaching principles: be enthusiastic, use humor, always be prepared for class, use praise, and demonstrate a sincere interest in each student.<\/p>\n

In his \u201cMath and the Liberal Arts\u201d course, he had a standing invitation for students to earn an automatic \u201cA\u201d by showing how they could take a plain sheet of paper and fold it eight times. For years, no one met the challenge. Showalter felt it was not humanly possible to fold a paper that many times. Finally, a student showed up one day with a tiny lump of paper that he had folded eight times. The student was \u2013 and Showalter looked to his left on the panel \u2013 Lehman, who worked part-time at a machine shop and used a mechanized press to aid him.<\/p>\n

Glenn Kauffman, with a PhD in physical organic chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania, marveled at the equipment improvements in his department over the years. \u201cIt\u2019s amazing that we never had a major fire in the chemistry labs in the early years,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd the organic chemistry lab used to be the smelliest place in the building.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kauffman is most proud of \u201cdeveloping a culture of research\u201d among his students. He devoted much of his own time \u2013 in addition to a full teaching load \u2013 to conducting research with students. Sometimes the research was in collaboration with James Madison University, across town, with grants from the National Science Foundation.<\/p>\n

Joseph Mast juggled his interests in math<\/a>, physics<\/a>, astronomy and computer science<\/a>. His PhD from the University of Virginia was in astronomy, but he was also trained in the other areas. He was an early student and then early instructor in computers. For 20 years he was director of EMU\u2019s M.T. Brackbill Planetarium, enjoying his interaction with school children who came to his planetarium shows.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy favorite course was astronomy,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen students would excitedly find Orion in the sky \u2013 that was great.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A hammer banged away on the $7 million renovation project of Suter Science Center as six retired professors talked about their careers in the 46-year-old Eastern Mennonite University building. 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