The professor that taught my two favorite classes during my undergraduate days--L. Marvin Overby--taught his last undergraduate classes for Mizzou today. I have very fond memories of those 2 courses: Congress and Legislative Policy/Politics, and Politics of the American South. It was a memorable experience. I'm not sure he knew he was my favorite, because quite honestly, he scared the crap out of me at the time. It was like something out of a movie: the scary professor who'd shut you down if you weren't prepared, like an edgy, off-color John Keating. I can't really explain what that was like, except to say this: I never missed a lecture, and I never wanted to. This dude is a throwback to the days when a university and the exchange of knowledge was for its own sake. It was good, because it was the truth, and no matter how indirect, it's for the good of others. He's good at playing the roguish cynic, but really, some pretty high ideals are lurking behind the presentation. I'll never be anything close to a leftist, but Overby planted the seeds of the destruction of my arrogant pseudo-libertarianism of the time. And somehow, he did it without expressing any overt opinions.
Every time I see Senator Schumer (D-NY) I remember Overby, and I have to smile. I was complaining about the senator holding up some Bush judicial appointments (those were the days) before one class in some pretty harsh terms, and Overby said, "Hey, Schumer is a good man who does well for his constituents." I'm not sure why this stuck out to me, but it did. I don't think I've been angry at Schumer since.
One day, in the legislative policy/politics class, Overby was lecturing on the so-called "Matthew Effect," (see Matthew 25:29) in context, the idea that our system grants significant and actually useful amounts of power with fairly small shifts in electoral outcome. I had demonstrated some facility with the Scriptures in a class full of probable heathen, and he got around to saying--after a digression into the Puritans--"Mr. Kettinger, why don't you give the class a brief outline of Calvinism?" I tried to demur, because Reformed election isn't the sunniest topic to talk about, and he wouldn't let me! So there we were, discussing theology in a politics class. I hope people were uncomfortable, in a way. Young adults are so specialized today; they don't read things you don't make them read, and even then. I'd like to think he liked me, because I'm one of those people who absorbs information because it's there. The day I stuck up for Calvinism, after class, as I recall, he mentioned that his sister was a Methodist minister. An odd contrast, that. But that was another small lesson: However he'd chosen to live, we don't treat religion as trivial or unimportant. I appreciated that.
I enjoyed his class so much, I told my advisor Donna Hanly, (RIP) that he was the best lecturer I'd ever heard. Donna replied, "You're about the 150th person to tell me that."
So now he's off to Penn State University, and they are fortunate. Hopefully the bigger and better will include some undergraduate teaching again. People who can instruct and inspire aren't so easy to find.
Thanks, Professor Overby.
Every time I see Senator Schumer (D-NY) I remember Overby, and I have to smile. I was complaining about the senator holding up some Bush judicial appointments (those were the days) before one class in some pretty harsh terms, and Overby said, "Hey, Schumer is a good man who does well for his constituents." I'm not sure why this stuck out to me, but it did. I don't think I've been angry at Schumer since.
One day, in the legislative policy/politics class, Overby was lecturing on the so-called "Matthew Effect," (see Matthew 25:29) in context, the idea that our system grants significant and actually useful amounts of power with fairly small shifts in electoral outcome. I had demonstrated some facility with the Scriptures in a class full of probable heathen, and he got around to saying--after a digression into the Puritans--"Mr. Kettinger, why don't you give the class a brief outline of Calvinism?" I tried to demur, because Reformed election isn't the sunniest topic to talk about, and he wouldn't let me! So there we were, discussing theology in a politics class. I hope people were uncomfortable, in a way. Young adults are so specialized today; they don't read things you don't make them read, and even then. I'd like to think he liked me, because I'm one of those people who absorbs information because it's there. The day I stuck up for Calvinism, after class, as I recall, he mentioned that his sister was a Methodist minister. An odd contrast, that. But that was another small lesson: However he'd chosen to live, we don't treat religion as trivial or unimportant. I appreciated that.
I enjoyed his class so much, I told my advisor Donna Hanly, (RIP) that he was the best lecturer I'd ever heard. Donna replied, "You're about the 150th person to tell me that."
So now he's off to Penn State University, and they are fortunate. Hopefully the bigger and better will include some undergraduate teaching again. People who can instruct and inspire aren't so easy to find.
Thanks, Professor Overby.
Comments