By Robb Frederick, Associate Director, News & Information

Penn State Behrend

The yearlong celebration of Penn State Behrend’s 75th anniversary has been an opportunity to reflect on the growth of the college and the contributions of those who helped make Behrend what it is today.

With help from Rod Troester, associate professor emeritus of speech communication, we have collected stories and life lessons from retired faculty members who remember a very different Behrend. Here are some of their reflections:

“I never looked at my time at Behrend as ‘work.’ I felt comfortable slipping into my office in the evening or on weekends in my slippers, often bringing my dog, Ginger, with me for company.

“I took advantage of the swimming pool and the ski slope behind the Otto Behrend Science building. I recall my daughter, Rebecca, then just a youngster, proudly coming over from the swimming pool to my office and informing me that she was able to swim two lengths of the pool. This entitled her to be on the forward deck of our sailboat.

“I loved teaching, and doing so at Behrend. I found it a joy to go to work each day.”

~ Robert Tauber, professor emeritus, education

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“I remember traveling with Dean Baldwin and students to the College English Association conference in Pittsburgh, where we shared an elevator with John Updike. We also went to the Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Ontario, where we saw Christopher Plummer perform the title role in ‘King Lear”; and to the PEN International conference in Toronto, where I had a conversation about melons with Arthur Miller in an open-air market.

“None of this would have happened without the help of the terrific Behrend community of faculty, staff and students.”

~ Greg Morris, professor emeritus, American literature and English

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“I was hired in 1968. My husband, Ben Scott, taught in the Physics department. He was hired the same year I was and retired in 1988.

“I was a chemist. During my 36-year tenure at Behrend, I saw the college develop from a two-year feeder institution to University Park to a flourishing, four-year campus.

“I retired in 2004. I stay in touch with the chemists, and with a few other faculty members in the School of Science.”

~ Mary Chisholm, professor emerita, chemistry

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“I was hired in 1970. That makes me second-generation Behrend Center faculty, but first-generation Behrend College faculty. I was part of the crowd of newbies hired that year to staff the four-year majors that were to make Behrend a baccalaureate-granting institution.

“There was little to work with at the time. Some of us joked that launching the college was like an old Mickey Rooney—Judy Garland movie: ‘Gee, kids, let’s put on a show in the barn.’ But Behrend provided a wonderful and unique opportunity for a career. In an age of academic retrenchment, Behrend bucked the trend and gave us a shot at a much more exciting and fulfilling project. It’s growing success is an achievement well worth celebrating.”

~ Dan Frankforter, professor emeritus, history