Gregory Szorc's blog

Reflections: Favorite Classes and Professors

With the Thanksgiving holiday approaching, now is as good a time as any to start my "Reflections" series of entries about my undergraduate experience at Case. The first article: favorite classes and professors.

Like many students, there is a strong correlation between my enjoyment of a course and my enjoyment of a professor. It is no surprise that my favorite classes were the ones taught by my favorite professors. In no particular order...

• CHEM 111 - Ignacio Ocasio (Doc Oc) - Words cannot describe how amazing a person Doc Oc was. The first time I raised my hand in class, he called upon me by name, having never met me. There were over 200 people in the class. He commanded the lecture hall with authority and confidence that is rarely seen. To top it off, he had a vivid interest in every student in the class. His office door was always open and he was always willing to let you crash on his very comfortable couches to discuss whatever was on your mind. I made it my agenda to always drop by and see Doc at least once a month, even after I was through taking classes from him. He will be missed by everyone who knew him.
• ENGR 131 - Joel Kraft - ENGR 131 was another amazing class from my fall semester freshman year. The reason? Joel Kraft. Joel found ways to make learning C++ fun. It is almost impossible to make learning a programming language in a lecture environment anything but dull. Yet, Joel found a way to do that every lecture. If things appeared to be going south, he always found a way to liven up the environment, albeit through somewhat unconventional means. But, hey, that's what made it fun. Specific memories include the use of a somewhat unconventional "class" for learning object-oriented programming and the fun and games at the expense of those sleeping during lecture. Like Doc, Joel shares a passion for the students and will do all in his power to help you.
• PHYS 221 - Corbin Covault - Most people take their first two semesters of physics and vow never to enroll in a physics course again. Being an Imaging and Computing BME at the time, PHYS 221 was a technical elective. I looked at the course and decided it was worth a shot. After all, there was no lab and modern physics is one of those subjects that was so perplexing, I had to explore it. Before the first lectures, I was afraid the material would be way over my head and the professor would be one of those absent-minded physics professors you always hear about. Dr. Covault eased these fears immediately. Dr. Covault is surprisingly down-to-earth (for a Ph.D in physics) and was always effective communicating the oftentimes abstract concepts taught in class. Like all previous professors discussed, he was always accessible and gave me assistance when I needed it. If you have the opportunity to take PHYS 221 from Dr. Covault, have no hesitations.
• POSC 352 & POSC 355 - Emery Lee - Unlike most engineers, my social science sequence consisted of two 300-level courses. The main reason was Dr. Emery Lee. I have always had an interest in political science. If I had the opportunity, I probably would have minored in it. After taking POSC 109 with Dr. Emery Lee freshmen year, there was no way I was going to miss up on another opportunity to take a course of his. So, when Junior year rolled around, I enrolled in his course each semester. The material for both of these courses, American Political Thought and Modern Political Idealogies was interesting on its own. Dr. Lee completely surpassed all expectations, however. My appreciation for these classes and for Dr. Lee arises from his teaching style. In a class where critical thought and discussion is encouraged, Dr. Lee always found ways to make the discussion lively and entertaining. Moreover, Dr. Lee, a liberal at heart, rarely let his personal opinions show during discussion. You often hear of many professors injecting their personal opinions in the classroom, indoctrinating their students. Dr. Lee never did. The issues were always addressed from an objective standpoint. When students wanted to engage in debate over the validity and relevance of political ideologies, for example, Dr. Lee served as a neutral moderator, supporting and critiquing each side when appropriate. If discussion were rather dull, Dr. Lee would always find ways to liven it, oftentimes via clever use of analogies. And finally, like all previous professors on this list, Dr. Lee always had time for the students. His door was always open and he would happily discuss any issue with you, relevant or not to the classroom.

So there it is, my favorite classes and professors from my undergraduate time at Case. It is no accident that all of these share a common thread relating to interest in the students and liveliness in the classroom. These are qualities that I view to be essential to cultivate a learning environment. I will not soon forgot the positive effect these professors have had on my time at Case.

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Greg,

I found it interesting that at least three of the classes you mention were large lecture classes (I don't know how big the POSC courses were).

Large lecture classes often get disparaged but I feel that in the hands of the right people, they can be wonderful experiences.

Dr. Singham,

ENGR 131 and PHYS 221 were both medium lecture classes. Joel taught the "advanced" 131 section, which was substantially smaller than the normal course. 221, although taught in ROCK 301, was also rather small. Both were on the order of 40-50 students, if I remember right. The POSC courses were both about 20-30 students.

I definitely share your sentiment about large lecture classes. A great professor can make it seem like he is she is communicating directly with you. I wish all the large lecture classes were taught by the cream of the crop.

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retty much nothing seems worth thinking about. My life's been completely dull , not that it matters. I've just been staying at home waiting for something to happen.