Last night I was thinking for some reason back to my college days and remembering the professors who taught me things that stretched my mind and made me think in new directions in ways that still influence my life today. In other words, I was making mental note of those I would term my best professors. I thought it might prove useful to list these on BA here in Siberia and ask others to list their best professors. Though several generations are represented on this board, many professors taught for 40 or 50 years, or even more, at Ohio. This means that there will mostly likely be some overlap in lists between those who graduated in different decades.

Here’s my short list, with name, general discipline, and specialty area in parentheses:

Robert Wieman, philosophy (metaphysics)
Danny Moates, psychology (psycholinguistics)
Guido Stempel III, journalism (areas too numerous to list)
Leslie Sargent, journalism (journalism law)
Hugh Culbertson, journalism (research methods)

As they do in Congress, I reserve the right revise and extend my remarks.

Who is on your list?

A mix of Profs from Undergrad and Graduate degrees.

Dwight Pugh, Business Law
Richard Voss, Cost Accounting
Helmut Zwahlen, Human Factors Engineering

Gifford Doxsee

Maybe the greatest name ever! Especially for a college professor!

Hoping these two didn't teach grammar. I'm guessing you didn't have Dr. Dru Evarts. She's the one that sticks with me constantly. The other would be Dr. Charles Alexander, whom I stayed in contact with once I graduated from OHIO.

Not the greatest impact, but definitely a lasting memory:

First words out of the professor's mouth on first day of Econ 101: "My name is Vishwa Shukla. And I don't speak English very good." He then went on to butcher over half of the names on a 200-plus roster. My uncertainty when I thought, but wasn't sure, he called my name is not unlike the students in this Key and Peele skit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dd7FixvoKBw

Leslie Sargent. The course was Contemporary Thought & Development and at its core were research and writing. What set Sargent apart from other professors was the way he graded our writings. In the margins, he annotated WHY he had edited the way he did. In other words he worked to improve not only writing but the thinking that precedes it.

Part of the research required attending the Kennedy Lecture Series. I recall going to listen to General Maxwell Taylor, George Lincoln Rockwell and Pearl Buck. Somehow, Sargent was able to induce Ms. Buck to come to our class the morning after her speech.

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Packy Moran FTW

Packy is one of the nicest human beings I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. His dedication to development of his students goes well beyond lectures.

Also one of the most loyal Bobcats I've ever met. I was very sad when I found out he was leaving for Iowa but it brings me joy knowing he is still spreading the good word about OUr Beloved.

Looking back the ones I remember were the ones that actually made me work hard. I will never forget Rudy Pasic for many reasons. He blew my mind talking about X dot for like two weeks before I figured out that was another way of representing a derivative. He had a habit of doing about 25% of the work on the board then saying a fool could finish it and it wasn't worth his time to do so. He also hurled insults and chalk at us at a high rate of speed so that was fun.

Frank Kraft guided me through rough times in the ME department during plagiarism gate to get my Masters so I probably owe him the most.

Largest impact on my life was actually my wife's adviser who told her she shouldn't bother applying to medical school, and the decision makers at OU that denied her even a courtesy interview after she did apply. Big mistake Bobcats. That permanently soured her on Ohio University. Athens she still loves, but will never come around on the school. She went on to medical school elsewhere which is where I landed my first job and still work there today although moved around some for that and my wife's training. Wife is now NIH trained under one of the founders of her field, board certified (about to be double board certified). Had she gotten into OU Medical school I probably stay for a PhD and our lives would be different although I kind of doubt better. Things happen for a reason I suppose.

Love this question!

Weldon Witters, Zoology, freshman year, Fall Quarter 1973. I came to OHIO wanting to become an athletic trainer and switched out of that program after this course--but it wasn't all without benefit.

He lectured on the topic of human reproduction and I was all ears. I had never been curious about a female's menstruation cycle or the potency for male sperm. He gave specifics on timing such as the several days of maximum fertility for the female and how recent a male should have ejaculated to be most potent. I wasn't even taking notes, this was being seared into my brain.

Fast forward, my wife and I didn't want kids right away in 1985 so we decided to wait. I wasn't bold enough to use a rhythm method based on what I had learned in the fall of '73 BUT in 1988 when it was time to try to have our first little one, I instructed my wife on the details and she got pregnant that June on the very first time we tried just following Professor Witters facts to increase the probability.

The next child didn't work as directed and took till the second month of trying.

Thanked God and Professor Witters for both! The third one, we didn't care so just experimented trying at every opportunity!

Richard Bald would probably have made my list, except the class I took from him was during my "sophomore slump" where one semester I earned a 1.0 GPA. So, the fact that I didn't get what should have out of his class was not his fault but mine.

There are two things, though, that I will never forget about his class:

1. The day of the JFK assassination I heard about the shooting on my way to his class. At that point we did not know how seriously the president had been wounded. As we sat in the class a student in back row kept his transistor radio earphone in his ear. After about 35 minutes, he raised his hand, and announced to the class that, "The president is dead." The class was dismissed and we all wandered out of Bentley Hall in a collective daze. As I left the classroom, I glanced over at Professor Bald who looked perplexed and very profoundly sad, with a look in his eye that told me he was remembering the days of political upheaval in his native Germany.

2. In one of his lectures he was discussing the WWII Era (don't remember the exact topic of the lecture) and he broke into tears as he recalled an assignment his troop of Hitler Youth was given at one point late in war -- burying some bodies. I'm not sure his age at that time of this incident, but I think he was 8 or 9 years old. It was obviously a very searing and painful memory that he probably had not intended to mention, but somehow it came out. He quickly regain his composure and completed his lecture.