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Favorite / Best tOSU Prof?

sparcboxbuck

What happened to my ¤cash?
Fuuuuuck.

Just had a conversation with my 8th grader about graphing calculator technology in the classroom and looked up one of my favorite profs at tOSU and found that he passed away.

Who was the best you ever had? For me, Bert Waits in the math department.

For what it’s worth, here’s an email that I sent to his son and it bounced. Kinda sad as I didn’t get to let him know his influence. Posting here as much for prosperity.

————

I do not mean to intrude, but are you, by chance, Bert Waits son?

If so, and if interested, I wanted to pass on my condolences on his passing. And, if I I’m correct, the passing of your mom as well. Sorry, the internet is a really spooky thing and I don’t mean to creep you out.

That said, I wanted to share something that if given the chance, I wish I could have shared with him. I’m clearly a bit late on that count, but the words are nonetheless sincere, and I hope that that by sharing them I make the world a slightly better place. While it may be way too late for him, hopefully it will mean something to you and your siblings, should you care to share.

Anyhow, I was one of Bert’s students at tOSU (#GoBucks) in the late ‘80s. Looking back at the educators that I had over the years, there were three who I consider to be Important (intentional) in informing the direction of my life. The first was my jr high math teacher, the second was Bert, and the last was my advisor in grad school — all of them, less Bert, were at my wedding and are dear friends today. I was one of Bert’s students during the time that he was working on writing his text that introduced graphing calculator technology into the classroom. While I was always good in math, and frankly, had tested out of Bert’s class, when I saw the topic / format I was compelled to take the class because I was interested in the technology. Suffice it to say, in the 10-week quarter, everything I thought I understood about math was made incredibly tangible because of how how the material was delivered. I walked out of his class understanding what I thought I knew in completely different ways.

That was maybe fall of ‘88? The following holiday break I took his book and my super cool Casio calculator back to my rural NW Ohio high school and shared it with my calculus teacher because the material and methods were so fundamental in creating a true understanding of math. Within a year my old HS adopted Bert’s book and methods.

So, four or so years after his passing and why am I writing? I’m a dad now. A junior in HS and an 8th grader. The 8th grader and I were talking about what he’s doing in school (a Montessori program) and we had a great discussion about functions and graphing and this use of graphing calculators in the classroom. I told him about my days with Bert and how his views of, and methods of teaching, the material were not only fundamental to my understanding of math, but frankly, created the lens through which I see my world as a quantitative psychologist.

During our discussion I googled Bert and saw that he passed and it really was a bit of a gut punch because, for both my jr high math teacher and my advisor in grad school, I’ve had the opportunity to let them know how much I appreciated the impact they had on my life. While that was easy as I still have close relationships with them, I never got to share that with Bert — even though I was some relatively anonymous kid in his class. What saddens me most in my delinquency in reaching out is letting Bert know that he’s now directly influencing his second generation of us math nerds (typed with love).

I pray that this makes it to you, and that you are who I hope you to be. I know that I have my faults as a dad, and I’m sure that Bert may have had his own... but I also pray that what I share brings a smile to you and yours as the influence he had and has reaches far further than I suspect he would have guessed.

There are three educators in my life that I can point to who changed my world... and your dad was one of them. I pray that some day some strange person should share a similar thought with one of my kids. I should be so lucky to positively influence young people as your dad did me.

Warmest regards,

Sparcboxbuck
 
Teri Ziegler. From reading reviews online, it appears I am the only person on the planet that enjoyed her classes.

And having Malcolm Chisolm in one of the chem classes was a somewhat surreal experience. Just saw that he died in 2015....brilliant guy.
 
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Teri Ziegler. From reading reviews online, it appears I am the only person on the planet that enjoyed her classes.

And having Malcolm Chisolm in one of the chem classes was a somewhat surreal experience. Just saw that he died in 2015....brilliant guy.

Member of both the National Academy of Sciences and Royal Academy of Science who made the Nobel short list several years. And he still taught intro chemistry every year because it he felt it "kept him fresh." Screw those who slander and stereotype Ohio State as somewhere that you never see an actual professor.

For me it was my advisor Alan K. Wildman. Editor of the Russian Review, wrote the definitive account of the breakup of the Russian army during the revolution, one of the top dozen historians in his field and a pioneer in bringing the concepts of social history to Soviet Studies. I took three undergrad classes, and guess what, they weren't over a hundred students and he did every lecture himself other than a very few when one of his doctoral students would lecture on their area of research. He also allowed me to take a doctoral level seminar with his grad students my last year. Went out of his way to get me into Chicago for grad school too. So again screw those who think Ohio State is some big, impersonal place. If you didn't get the attention you felt you deserved, perhaps you just didn't stand out enough or try hard enough to earn it.
 
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Roger Blackwell, Marketing 650, Fisher College of Business.

Presumably before he got nailed for insider trading. :lol:

I cannot comment except to say that I believe he was innocent.
Took that class too... just to see him get hauled out... I have opinions on that class/man but thats for another thread.

Garbaz (E Mag), Fenton (Circuits) , Tiexeria (estimation, free space transmission), Sabo (Power), Hooshang Hemami (systems).
 
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Member of both the National Academy of Sciences and Royal Academy of Science who made the Nobel short list several years. And he still taught intro chemistry every year because it he felt it "kept him fresh." Screw those who slander and stereotype Ohio State as somewhere that you never see an actual professor.

For me it was my advisor Alan K. Wildman. Editor of the Russian Review, wrote the definitive account of the breakup of the Russian army during the revolution, one of the top dozen historians in his field and a pioneer in bringing the concepts of social history to Soviet Studies. I took three undergrad classes, and guess what, they weren't over a hundred students and he did every lecture himself other than a very few when one of his doctoral students would lecture on their area of research. He also allowed me to take a doctoral level seminar with his grad students my last year. Went out of his way to get me into Chicago for grad school too. So again screw those who think Ohio State is some big, impersonal place. If you didn't get the attention you felt you deserved, perhaps you just didn't stand out enough or try hard enough to earn it.

Similarly, Lonnie Thompson, the world-famous paleoclimatologist and adventurer who also taught Geology 110, aka "Rocks for Jocks". At the end of the semester he had an extra-credit opportunity to visit the Byrd Polar Research lab on a Saturday morning... Extra credit in class, plus free donuts, and I was the only student out of 100-200 to join him for a private tour of his famous ice cores. I probably didn't even do great in the class, but that was awesome. I also had the head of the philosophy dept for Phil 101H my freshman year which really helped push me in that direction.

Also, Walter "Mack" Davis was the most interesting and iconoclastic of my English profs.
 
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Charles Adams in what is now the John Glenn College.

Dr. Adams typically only taught PhD students, but taught a few master level classes I took. The way he ran his classes (lots of projects you had to quickly research, analyze and then present on) was the most beneficial for when I hit the real world. Plus, he taught you how to do a presentation properly. You know, not stand there and read what is on the screen which everyone could read. If you read it he would announce something along the lines of "This isn't story time. We know how to read."
 
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