E: The Student Reminiscent of Dr. Arthur Ekirch

Looking back over the college years, it is the great teachers whom one remembers as teaching is the fundamental ingredient of the college experience. Although many other things are part of college, it is the teachers who have the strongest influence. Such a professor, whom I had the privilege of knowing at the State University of New York at Albany, was Dr. Arthur Ekirch. He is a distinguished scholar who also cares deeply about teaching. He has the courage to exchange ideas with his students while allowing them to change their minds as perhaps they change his. In his classroom one finds the creation of a climate where freedom of encounter and freedom of expression between the student and the professor are paramount. This manifests itself in many ways as he assists students in examining various theories and methods of historical research. The fine qualities of his mind and the insights he has into historical events are molded together to let one see how he reaches his own conclusions about events; yet he remains open to consider other points of view.