Cheers, Scott

I simply must write a tribute to my professor Scott. He’s a PhD, alright, but he insists that we should call him Scott, his first name.  This dear professor continues to astound me on a daily basis.  He’s about 6 ft tall with a ruddy Irish-looking complexion, although he says he is German.  He is 50ish with blonde to graying hair.  He fondly refers to himself as “the fat man,” but I would consider him more “robust”  than fat.  If you will recall, this is the same class that was full when it came time for me to register for classes.  I had contacted him via email and wistfully mentioned that I really would like to take his class, but that unfortunately, I didn’t have a high-enough ranking to have any hope of any slots being open when it was my turn to register.  From that first email throughout the course of the semester, I would have to say that getting an email from this man is nothing unlike getting a nugget of sunshine in my inbox.  
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Hi Kris,

No worries--even if the class fills up I can still get you in. I look forward to having you in my class!

Cheers,
Scott
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Wow!  And so I sent him a letter of thanks.  That is so rare, let me just tell you.  Whenever someone goes out of his or her way to accommodate a humble student, it is nothing short of remarkable!  Here is his reply:
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My pleasure, Kris. You'll find out as you take my class that I hate bureaucracy, and I know WKU has plenty of it to go around (I spent most of my day filling out paperwork so someone could put it in a file and never look at it again). Glad to have another bureaucracy-hater on board!

Cheers,
Scott
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So fast forward to Spring Semester 2006.  We go to class, and I meet “Scott” for the first time.  Now this is no conventional sort of class.  First of all, his very nature has him bouncing off the walls, dropping subtle bits of humor here and there and all of it laced with a good bit of sarcasm.  Unfortunately, I seem to be one of the few to catch on to most of the funny things he says.   But anyway…the computer and projector never want to work right for him, and because we spend a lot of class periods watching episodes of the first season of “The Apprentice,” he spends quite a bit of time standing up on top his extra tall swivel chair as he tries to coax the projector to life.  He always assures us that we can humor ourselves by watching “the fat man spin;” so we just sit there cringing,  waiting for the inevitable fall.  The remote never works right, and the flash drive always insists something has to be installed even though the computer “recognizes new hardware.”  

I began to catch on that just maybe I would be able to leave my book at home and relieve my back of the extra weight.  So I asked him.  Here’s his reply:
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Hi Kris,

"My grandpappy chewed tobacco, but he never did smoke pot." Thanks for calling me Scott!!!!

You'll never need to bring your textbook to class. It's just to supplement the lectures and exercises we'll do in class, so feel free to read it at home at your leisure and save your back from carrying so many textbooks.

I hope you're enjoying the course and we move into the second week of the semester.

Cheers,
Scott
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I do love this man.  In a conversation we had toward the end of the semester, he told me he hates textbooks and thinks they’re worthless.  Wow!  I could not agree more.  Textbooks should be there for reinforcement, and that’s it!  Teach me—don’t make me go home and read a book that will make me fall asleep ten minutes after picking it up!  He gave us only five or six assigned readings over the course of the semester, but they were very specific pages and very manageable.  Never did we have to read a whole chapter.

And then he introduced the Elevator Pitch.  When he modeled it for the class, it seemed to me to be the same thing as an impromptu speech, although slightly more structured—something at which I am admittedly terrible!  So I wanted to clarify a couple things, the main thing being whether or not we would have time to prepare for the crazy little thing.  

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Hi Kris,

I certainly don't want to be the one responsible for everyone's ulcers, so no worries--you'll have plenty of time to prepare for the elevator pitch. In fact, the technique works best when you work on it ahead of time (as you probably picked up from my sorry off-the-cuff elevator
pitch this afternoon!!!). The purpose of today's little demo was just to give you an idea of what we'll be working toward. I'll try to do a few more as we get closer to the presentations.

Thanks for taking my course--it's such a pleasure having you in the class!

Cheers,
Scott
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And the man is thanking ME for taking his course??  Wild horses couldn’t tear me away.  This is the one class of the semester that has been relatively hassle-free:  little to no homework and an absolute pleasure to attend.  

Here’s a tip, Scott-style:  
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Hi everyone, Here's a tip to weed out the wrong multiple-choice answers: If you've never heard about it, read about it, or seen it on a PowerPoint slide, it's probably the wrong answer, so pick something else. Good luck! Scott

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He thought we might have a bit of trouble with the last quiz beings we had had spring break and then we had to have presentations and there was just a lot of activity that messed up the continuity of the course material; so he held a review session.  He proceeds to read us what I presume was last semester’s quiz.  He told us that if we don’t get everything written down, don’t worry about it—“I’ll bring a copy of it on Thursday.”  (  Not many got that one either.  He also says, “The trick to passing my quizzes is to select the right answer.”

So last week, it was finally Sharon and my turn to register for fall classes.  I wanted to “pass the torch” to her, but of course, Scott’s class was full.  So I resorted to my usual trick of using the role of “beggar” to try to get her in.  
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Hey Kris,

I'd be happy to have your sister in my fall class! I did an override for her on TopNet to save her a spot so all she'll need to do is
register for the course on TopNet once her registration date rolls
around on April 17, this Monday.

When she goes online, TopNet will show that the class is full, but since I've reserved a spot under her name, she should be able to register.  If she has any problems, just let me know and I'll take care of making sure she gets registered.

Enjoy the weekend, and please tell Sharon that I look forward to meeting her this fall!

Cheers,
Scott

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It was right after this that we had our quiz.  As I handed the quiz in, he whispers to me, “I’m really looking forward to meeting Sharon.  Tell her ‘Hey’! So I told her “hey” alright.  Now Scott has actually met Sharon already…one day earlier this semester.  Only he thought she was me.  And when she informed him of the error, he was so astounded he missed his elevator.  He suggested to her on that day that maybe he’ll get to see her in his class.  So I guess it’s working out that he will.  

The man begs to give us the top grades.  He added on 5 points to our first quiz score simply for showing up to listen to a Study Abroad presentation.  He added 5 points on to our last quiz score for showing up at the review session.  When we do our little presentations, he splits the class in half, and we only have to show up on the day that we are scheduled to present.  

One of Western’s graduates is on the current season of the Apprentice, and she made a guest appearance on campus last night to eat and watch the Apprentice with the students.  So Scott  made sure he went and hung out with the kids last night, and he was all aglow about it today.  He had a fabulous time.  He says he wants to be on the Apprentice.  That’d be a hoot to watch, for sure.  

Today he told us about the final.  He says he gives an “air-quote final.” ((Get it?) He likes “air-quotes.”)   He first of all let us vote to see if we wanted a lecture on Thursday or if we wanted to watch another episode of the Apprentice.  The vote carried to watch another episode.  So here is how the “air quote final” works.  If we show up this Thursday, he will give us an automatic 100% for our final.  In other words, no final at all!!  “You worry about your other finals,” he said.  He said he thinks we’ll learn more from the Apprentice than we would from taking an exam.  For sure!!

Now lest I give you the impression that he doesn’t teach anything, let me assure you that he really does.  He just does it in an unconventional style that “defies the rules.”  I love it.  He also tells us not to believe professors when they say they should be making more money.  He can’t believe he makes so much for just coming and “having fun.”  He is simply a unique person that has contributed to my new life-theme of thinking outside the box.  I’ll miss him, for sure.  

Did I mention we got out of class early every single day??