Your experience at the U

[dystopiamembrane]

Good morning, dear friends. I am hoping that we can all share some experience of our studies at the U – a favourite professor, a special place on campus for you, an experience that changed your thoughts on a subject, etc. The forum is yours.

[dystopiamembrane]

One of my experiences – some group, I’m not sure who, paid for a two page advert in the middle of the Chrony, a majority of both pages covered in black. The advert indicated that the work of Pons and Fleischmann had produced measurable amounts of energy above that which was originally put into the system. My chemistry professor, Ronald O. Ragsdale, came into class that afternoon, held the advert up in the air and yelled, “Garbage!” He, then, crumpled up the paper and burned it in the sink on the benchtop.

Another, there was a movement on campus that put up flyers on some of the plant physiology bulletin boards. The flyers argued that plants feel pain and that experiments should be stopped, indicating that plant experimentation was just as cruel as animal experimentation. My professor, John Sperry, kept one of the flyers on the little board outside his water relations lab as a joke.

[HoosierUte]

Ragsdale was a legend. 

[prestitute]

Ragsdale and Driscoll were great. I got to spend a lot of time with them in AP Chem and Summer Analytical Chemistry when I was a Jr at Brighton. They were awesome about outreach in STEM before it was called that. Their work with the highschools in SLC helped cement my desire to stay local and study at the U.

As far as Professors go, I really like Neal Cotter in EE. He used to teach the first year EE course as well as Engineering Probability and Statistics. He had a hosted study session in the ROTC building and used to joke that walking ip the stairs with all the values on them everyday should count as our required engineering ethics credits.

[utefansince79]

Ragsdale and Driscoll had the cannon that would hit the stuffed “Cougar” Great stuff

 

[dystopiamembrane]

Amazing professor and scholar: Dr. Margaret M. Toscano

[Tony (admin)]

I had many great memories of my time at the U, and some sad. Sad would be the day my sociology professor died in front of the class.  He was writing on the chalk board and had a heart attack or something. The chalk line literally stopped mid-word and went down off the board.  My buddy turned to me and said, “Round Table Pizza?”  

I remember being one of two people in the student section, in the snow at a football game. The other person was my best friend. 

I fondly remember dating two Crimson Line ladies at the same time. 😉

 

[UrbanLiar]

Who was the Sociology professor? I worked in that department for 4 years and never heard that story. Interesting.

[Tony (admin)]

This would have been somewhere around 1987ish? 

[UteFanatic]

I studied Mechanical Engineering and have fond memories of Dr. DeVries. He was a legend in the engineering department. He had a genuine passion for teaching and had a plethora of great quotes over the years. Loved that guy. He retired just a few years ago after a half century of teaching.

I spent countless hours in the Warnock Engineering Building. Most days, I arrived on campus at 7:00am and didn’t leave until after 9:00pm. So much homework.

Engineering was hard, but I made a lot of friends, many who I still talk to today.

Loved my time at the U. My degree set me up in a great career and established my lifelong love for University and its sports programs.

I had a class with Zane Beadles in 2008. He was awesome and I admired him for majoring in engineering while playing football. 

 

 

[NarfUte]

What year did you graduate? I was ME ’10, had lots of classes with Zane. I tried to get him to report his first NFL salary to bump up the department average but I don’t think he did

[UteFanatic]

2011. That’s funny about the NFL salary thing with Zane. Lol.

[GameForAnyFuss]

Spot on! When I saw this thread, I immediately thought of Larry DeVries. His corny jokes and sayings were legendary. I still say some of them. Like “close enough to kiss.”

I graduated ME ’99 so the Warnock building was after my time. I spent my days studying in MEB and getting high off the fumes. And even back then all the ceiling tiles were missing – that’s not a new thing.

I had a lab/office in MEB. The guy I shared it with had this nasty ass couch in there. He used to bring his dog to the lab and the dog would sleep on the couch. One day when I was in there alone, my girlfriend paid me a surprise visit and we ended up making out on the couch. We both ended up getting fleas from it. Ah, good times!

[St George Ute]

I attended the U for both my undergrad (BS Economics) and graduate work (MBA). I was a husband and father during both stints, working full-time, so didn’t get to participate in the student life.

But, I loved my time at the U, loved walking through campus, especially during the early Spring and Fall mornings. I made a point to walk the grounds as much as possible during my last semesters, just to take in the beauty and serenity before I wouldn’t be there any more.

Favorite professor during my undergrad was Richard Fowles. He made econ fun, and really sparked my love of formulas and equations and how they can help one understand the decision-making process.

For my masters, there are far too many great professors to just pick one. I completed the Executive program, so was taught by the likes of Drs. Bakhsheshy, Schaeffer, Allen, and others. All were great.

[leftyjace]

It still amazes me how similar our stories are sometimes.

[MacKidsAlumn]

Dr Pingree was my Poli-Sci professor.  I loved how engaging his classes were and how he taught me how to learn.  Also had several interactions with Taylor Randell when he was at the business school.  I think we struck gold with that guy. He loves students and wants to make sure they succeed.

[Ghost of the HEB]

Spent a lot of time in the HEB (Henry Eyring Building). Realized there was a ghost in the basement there. Hence the name.

[SkinyUte]

I…have no time at the U.  🙁

However, I’m the only person in my entire extended family who did not graduate from the U.  Wife, Mom, Dad, MIL, FIL, Brother, Sis in law, Aunts, Uncles…everyone went there, except me.  I ended up with a soccer scholarship to a DII school in Colorado and decided to give that a go instead.  

So I’ve been a Utah fan my entire life because of the family ties, but I never actually went there myself.  I’ve often wondered if there’s a way for me to take one or two random courses, just to say I went.  

[Central Coast Ute]

I’m with you Skiny. My entire family graduated from there except me. I went another route. I grew up in West Valley City and was a Ute fan from a young age and continue to be, even with my education being from a different school.

[Trailgoat]

Mark T. Nielsen, Advanced Human Anatomy. One of those professors loving what he does inspiring students to work hard and learn in a very time consuming, challenging course.

[UrbanLiar]

Great comment! He was the toughest class I took as an undergrad! His abilities to draw a circulatory or nervous system on a chalkboard with both hands at the same time was amazing. I vividly remember his “bug room” too!

[Charlie]

I have no idea how to spell his name, but Sudar Mimbol, or something close to that was a professor in the U Accounting department. He was extremely knowledgeable and extremely hard to understand. He completely changed the way I attended class. In the 70s the business students took pages of notes every class period. To stay with the professor I put my pencil down and simply listened intently to understand him. Understanding jumps when you listen instead of copy. In IT grad school I probably took 2 pages of notes total, mostly deadlines or date events. I am convinced my understanding improved greatly due to that change.

[FtheY]

Excellent topic, Dysto – a genuine thanks for posting. 

Some folks already posted a few things, but I also wanted to say that I loved walking the campus. Loved in the dorms or apartments and would often walk back from class as opposed to taking the shuttles. When I did take the shuttles, I made friends with all of the bus drivers. People thought I was weird but no one ever chatted with them or told them thank you – they loved it. 

Started in engineering but switched to business. Never knew Zane but always respected him for being an engineering guy while playing football. Did have a class or two with Sakoda though. 

In my one semester of engineering, my physics professor was demonstrating a concept by lighting a flame in a giant tube – ended up going up in flames and we all had to evacuate the building. It was a small fire but it was pretty crazy. 

2008 MUSS tickets are still the best $25 I ever spent. Enough said. 

Didn’t really enjoy school at the time, it was a means to end. Favorite class was an elective on the concept of Power taught by Sandomir. Loved it. Over the years I’ve grown to love reading and learning more but didn’t enjoy it much at the time – wish I did looking back. School taught me how much I didn’t know. I also learned how to learn – that was the revelation for me. 

My handle is FtheY because of a sign we made for the 2006 BYU game our freshman year – it literally said “F the Y” and was quickly confiscated.  

My buddy (the one that came up with F the Y) and I attended all the basketball games during the Boylen rebuild. I swear he and I were the entire MUSS at the time other than the students that were on the MUSS board. Several awesome memories here – we got a note from the Mountain West that we were too rowdy as a student section….we kept it PG but heckled the crap out of opposing teams. That was validation, and a great move by Boylen, to put us above the opposing teams bench. Funny because we were so small. 

We won a raffle to go into the basketball locker room before the game. Boylen gave his pep talk, had a quick prayer, then came out of the tunnel with the team. Asked Marshall Henderson how he felt and he said “just poppin, just poppin” – dude was bouncing off the walls. 

Before a game, the court side seats had tshirts on them. Marshall walks up and starts throwing them to the students saying that we needed free shirts way more than the folks that could afford those seats. Haha. 

Beat Oklahoma when Blake Griffin came to town. I think we he’d him scoreless too and we let him know it….received a death stare from him when he sat down on the bench. 

Played BYU at home with Jimmer. My buddy found out that apparently he missed a previous practice or game due to stomach issues….but also turned 21 at the time. During a timeout we yelled down at him and asked him if he had the beer flu – he made eye contact with us, smiled and sipped his Gatorade. 

How crazy. Hadn’t thought about some of these things in years. 

[Ute Dub]

Zrinka Despotovic was a young 20 something professor from Croatia that didn’t wear a bra when she taught my business calculus class in a white t shirt. Somehow I pulled an A. That is all. 

[UrbanLiar]

U sure that’s what you pulled?

[Trailgoat]

The on campus golf course. Getting nine holes in with a golf bag full of beers. Thankfully never hit any cars, came damn close though.

[FtheY]

How could I forget the golf course?! Best 9 ever for $5. Miss that place. 

[NarfUte]

I miss that golf course. Who needs research buildings when you can play 9 holes for $5. I still think my longest ever drives were from the tee on hole 5… those slices went alllll the way down the mountain.

[utefansince79]

The golf course (back when it was 18 holes) once was part of the PGA tour (the Utah Open).  Ben Hogan and other greats played on that course.

 

[HoosierUte]

100% the golf course. I would drop my wife off at Huntsman for her 12-hour nursing shift, get a quick 9 in at the golf course (usually before it even opened- so free) spend my entire day on campus where I had classes and worked in the emma eccles lab building, then finish up the evening on the practice green or playing holes 3-5 till my wife was ready to head home. 

[UTE98]

Dr. James Mayfield, he taught a “Rural development in third world countries” class I think his son was in my class. i only took it because it was an elective in my International Relations Certificate with my Poli Sci degree. That class and what i learned has affected the way I view the world, interpersonal communications, and even how I interpreted classes in my MBA.

I still remember one of his questions was Would you be able to teach about the importance of micro-loans to a culture which believes in female genital mutilation? It seems like a really odd question, but he wanted you to think about what was important to you. What were your views you drew a line in the sand for? And then he would help you understand how you could approach the problem from a different angle. Lots of self-reflection about the world in that class.

[utr ute]

Great topic!  I loved my time at the U, two of my professors really stand out in my mind.

 

Dan Jones was a fun and engaging teacher in the PoliSci department.  It was fun to see how many names he would drop during a lecture.

 

Hans Ehrbar was interesting.  I’ll never forget the lectures he gave on Marx’s Capital and reading Ehrbar’s translation from German to English.

[Dugway]

Jinx! Hah!

[dystopiamembrane]

I worked for years in Dan Jones’ survey research firm.

[dystopiamembrane]

Excellent, very good, good, fair, or poor?

[Great1Ute]

Yep, Dr. Mayfield was one of my favorites as well.  I spent a month in India with him working in villages.  It was a directed study that gave me my final credits to graduate.  You should have seen that guy navigate third-world environments.  Remarkable.

[Dugway]

I can’t believe nobody has mentioned the Econ Prof Hans Ehrbar. I took his class on “Das Kapital” and it changed my entire view of the world and my place in it. I mean, he lived in a freaking commune downtown somewhere! I’ll never forget him saying that as an economic system, communism had given up just a few years too soon. Today we have computers that are powerful enough to understand an economy pretty well. Oh well.

[leftyjace]

Yep, took that class. Was enlightening.

[UTE98]

I took Marxian Economics. Very interesting course. On a different note, I’ve got a funny story about Pres. Randall and the current “economics” department at the U. But I probably shouldn’t share it, because it might give away my source.

[PhiladelphiaUte]

My 1st semester (Fall quarter, 1995) at the U, I had 2 classes with the same professor:  Latin 1 and Greek Mythology, with Dr. Philip Spann.  I wasn’t a Classical Civilizations major (these were just fulfilling some Gen.Ed. requirements for graduation for me), but that guy was the most fascinating educator I’d ever had the pleasure of learning from.  If it weren’t for the fact that there’s not a lot of potential in high-earning careers for people with degrees in that field, I would have changed my major.

[dystopiamembrane]

I studied Classics at that time. Dr. Spann was my mentor. Sadly, he passed away a number of years ago.

[PhiladelphiaUte]

Then you KNOW what an awesome professor he truly was.  That’s sad to hear of his passing.

[uteof]

I attended the U before most of you were born- BS, Zoology in 1962, MS, Zoology in 1964. Stephen D. Durant was a marvelous professor and I took all of his courses, which were all evolution courses:  Mammalogy, Man, Vertebrate Phylogeny, Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy. His course “Man” dealt with evolution of primates. Anthropology majors had to take it, so the class was big. At the end he was talking about breast shape in different groups of modern human women. When he was finished he leaned over the lectern and said “and some of you girls are trying to fool me”.

[dystopiamembrane]

Comedy gold