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Professor
retires after changing students’ lives that changed his own Chuck Becker released his students from class at 3:20 p.m. Tuesday, but he didn’t leave until 20 minutes later. He needed to help his students with their assignments. After that, he walked over to the economics department so he could help them more extensively.
He did this until 5:30 p.m. — with a smile.These help sessions Becker is known for will soon come to an end. The associate professor of economics and finance said he is retiring from TCU after 35 years of teaching — a profession he has admired since childhood. “There’s going to be a loud cheer when I’m gone,” Becker said with a laugh. “No, they’re going to have a jubilee. They’re going to say that I ruined more 4.0 averages in my teaching history here than anyone else and, ‘Thank gosh the old buzzard is kaput.’ That is exactly what is going to be said.” Becker said he came to TCU in September of 1967 after receiving a doctorate from the University of Arizona, where he also received his bachelor’s and master’s. He also had a brief career as a professor at what is now known as the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. “I still, to my knowledge, hold the record for the earliest tenure decision ever made in the history of the University of Nevada system,” Becker said. “I was tenured after only two years on the faculty there, just in time for me to renounce it and come to TCU. I got tenure and then I parted, which isn’t very smart. You’re suppose to get tenure and stay some place, but I wasn’t that intelligent.” Becker became a tenured professor at TCU in 1971. This time around, he decided to stay. Becker said as he has matured over the years, he has become more mellow and more interested in his students. He said positive teaching gives him a better response from students, and he hasn’t been mad at too many students. “The greatest single thing I am going to miss in retirement is my students,” Becker said. “It’s not just the ones that are here currently, it is all the, I guess, thousands that have passed before.” Brett Gall, a junior business major, said Becker is a nice professor and funny in class. “Random is a word you could definitely use to describe him,” Gall said. “He is too smart.” Kelley Brown, a sophomore economics and philosophy major, said Becker loves his job, and you can tell by the way he teaches. “I think a lot of professors forget that that’s why we’re here and that’s what makes Dr. Becker so refreshing,” Brown said. “I have learned more in this class than is typical to learn in three classes and that’s not to mention all of the life advice that he’s passed my way.” Brown said Becker cares about what and how much his students learn. She said that he has continued to teach even after several prestigious job offers and she believes it is because he cares so much for his students. “I’m coming away from this class with knowledge that will help me all throughout my life — knowledge that I most certainly would never have had if it weren’t for Dr. Becker,” Brown said. “Besides, you can’t help but come away from his class in a good mood. He’s always so pleasant to be around.” Matt Moore, a senior philosophy major, said he likes Becker’s vast knowledge, enthusiasm for teaching and his interest in each student. “He enjoys passing on his knowledge in order to improve the lives of students,” Moore said. Becker said although this is his last semester, his retirement is official at the end of the 2002 fall semester. He said he will move with his wife Natalie to Delaware to get away from the Texas summer and to buy land where they will build a house. Brown said she will always remember Becker. “He’s just one of those people that goes out of his way to touch your life,” Brown said. “You don’t forget people like that.” Kelly
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TCU Daily Skiff © 2002 |
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