Gold Within: Professor Jeff McCall '76
My role as a professor at DePauw often allows me the opportunity to meet with prospective students. I always talk about the many ways students can engage the university experience, both in and out of the classroom. As I tell the prospects, “You don’t come to DePauw to be a bystander.”
The engaged approach to college benefitted me greatly during my time at DePauw. I participated on the cross country and track teams for all four years and worked at WGRE-FM radio. I also joined Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity, serving as an officer for two years. This level of involvement kept me busy, no doubt, but it allowed for me to work with and enjoy many friends. Academic coursework remained the top priority, but campus engagement outside of the classroom provided life balance and additional connections to DePauw.
DePauw was placed on my college selection radar by Coach Robert Harvey, who contacted me in the fall of my senior year in high school and encouraged me to join the DePauw running program. After a couple of visits to campus and helpful conversations with Coach Harvey, I decided to attend DePauw. I recognized that Coach Harvey was dedicated to the success of his runners, both athletically and academically. Coach was a wonderful mentor and guide. Participating in cross country and track provided a structure to college life, not to mention keeping me in good physical condition. Coach Harvey would tell us, “Men, running is a sport for life.” I took that encouragement to heart and still enjoy the benefits of running all these years later. Running still provides structure and exercise to my life. There are lots of benefits to maintaining a running program, but the best was getting to run a 5K with my ten year old granddaughter, Julia, last summer.
DePauw provided me with mentors in all of my campus experiences. Professors such as Dr. Robert Weiss in communication and Professor Elizabeth Christman in literature were not only excellent teachers, but personal guides as well. It was Dr. Weiss who invited me for a chat to raise the prospect of me going to graduate school. As a first generation college student, graduate school seemed a far-fetched notion until Dr. Weiss paved the way. My work-study supervisor at the DePauw News Bureau, Pat Aikman, taught me much about writing and workplace professionalism. And my pledge father at Lambda Chi, Bill Carroll, got me going at WGRE. It is funny to think that I am still involved at WGRE as faculty supervisor, over forty years later.
I am grateful for the many people who built my DePauw experience and kept me from being a bystander!