Music City Horn
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Has there been a thread on this topic? And I wasn’t sure where to put it…
Recently I was interviewed by a student at the university where I teach , and one question that came up was why I chose the career I did. It brought back a lot of memories of my undergraduate days in Austin, and also got me thinking about my best and worst professors.
Without doubt, my best was Mike Stoff, in the History Department. When I began college, I had no plans of taking more than the required number of history courses. History classes in my high school tended to be wretched—taught mostly by coaches who had no interest in teaching much at all (no offense to those coaches who are excellent teachers, by the way; I have met some over the years). I landed in Dr. Stoff’s Intro to US History in my second semester, and it hit me like a ton of bricks. I remember thinking one day, while attending one of his lectures, that this was going to be what I was going to do with my life. His lectures always were outstanding—well organized, articulate, informed, and almost always with plenty of “hmmm” material to take away from the class.
But what really makes him memorable for me was my second class with him, a junior-level seminar required of all history majors. The course was in contemporary US history, and each of us had the freedom to select our own topic for a research project. There were some very interesting ones—I recall one student who wrote a paper on lynchings in the South in the early 20th century, and one who wrote one on organized crime in the 20s. My topic was “The Socialist Party in the 1930s.” I remember a few students complaining that the topic seemed sort of boring. And I remember Dr. Stoff coming to my defense, pointing out the interest and importance of what I was attempting to understand. This simple support, which took all of 15 minutes of class time, may have been a key factor in leading me to a doctoral dissertation, and first book, on the American left.
And more than that, I recall the day I went to his office to ask him a question about an assignment. We talked for a short while before he invited me to go for coffee, where we sat for quite some time and talked history. For me—a fairly shy, first-generation college student who tended to be intimidated by professors—this was pretty amazing stuff. From that point on, I always felt comfortable calling on him for advice, which I probably did more often that I should have.
I ran into him at a conference a few years ago, and assumed he wouldn’t remember me from the man on the moon. But he did. And I was able to let him know how grateful I am for his mentoring and his inspiration.
Who was/is your best professor (at UT, or otherwise, I guess)? And, more importantly…why?
***Oh, and if you do have a “Dr. Stoff” from your undergraduate days: I can’t express how fulfilling it is for an educator to get a note of thanks from a former student. Something to consider if you haven’t done it.
Recently I was interviewed by a student at the university where I teach , and one question that came up was why I chose the career I did. It brought back a lot of memories of my undergraduate days in Austin, and also got me thinking about my best and worst professors.
Without doubt, my best was Mike Stoff, in the History Department. When I began college, I had no plans of taking more than the required number of history courses. History classes in my high school tended to be wretched—taught mostly by coaches who had no interest in teaching much at all (no offense to those coaches who are excellent teachers, by the way; I have met some over the years). I landed in Dr. Stoff’s Intro to US History in my second semester, and it hit me like a ton of bricks. I remember thinking one day, while attending one of his lectures, that this was going to be what I was going to do with my life. His lectures always were outstanding—well organized, articulate, informed, and almost always with plenty of “hmmm” material to take away from the class.
But what really makes him memorable for me was my second class with him, a junior-level seminar required of all history majors. The course was in contemporary US history, and each of us had the freedom to select our own topic for a research project. There were some very interesting ones—I recall one student who wrote a paper on lynchings in the South in the early 20th century, and one who wrote one on organized crime in the 20s. My topic was “The Socialist Party in the 1930s.” I remember a few students complaining that the topic seemed sort of boring. And I remember Dr. Stoff coming to my defense, pointing out the interest and importance of what I was attempting to understand. This simple support, which took all of 15 minutes of class time, may have been a key factor in leading me to a doctoral dissertation, and first book, on the American left.
And more than that, I recall the day I went to his office to ask him a question about an assignment. We talked for a short while before he invited me to go for coffee, where we sat for quite some time and talked history. For me—a fairly shy, first-generation college student who tended to be intimidated by professors—this was pretty amazing stuff. From that point on, I always felt comfortable calling on him for advice, which I probably did more often that I should have.
I ran into him at a conference a few years ago, and assumed he wouldn’t remember me from the man on the moon. But he did. And I was able to let him know how grateful I am for his mentoring and his inspiration.
Who was/is your best professor (at UT, or otherwise, I guess)? And, more importantly…why?
***Oh, and if you do have a “Dr. Stoff” from your undergraduate days: I can’t express how fulfilling it is for an educator to get a note of thanks from a former student. Something to consider if you haven’t done it.
