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By Greg Parks
In an inauspicious nook in the office of Jim Hoefler -- among what appears to be some real art -- is a fading poster I drew more than 30 years ago announcing what was billed as "The Jimi Hoefler Experience."
For non-Boomers too young to remember, the name for the show was a whimsical derivative of the hippie-era "Jimi Hendrix Experience."
Mr. Hoefler, a true Renaissance man, was my economics instructor at Ohio University-Zanesville. He also was a pretty decent guitar player. "The Jimi Hoefler Experience" was a musical and theatrical benefit for the American Heart Association. It was far from psychedelic -- no mosh pit -- but it was a great variety show nonetheless. I had pretty much forgotten about those dozen or so posters into which I had put so much time (and talent?). At the risk of sounding immodest, my pop art was popular. Most of my posters were spirited away for bedroom or basement walls soon after they went up on campus. A few months back, a woman mentioned to me that she recently had been in Mr. Hoefler's office and was tickled by one of my old posters, which today has immeasurably more gag value than it did way back when. I'm glad Mr. Hoefler saved it. I recently was thinning out a bushel of old photographs and came across a picture that had appeared in The Independent student newspaper at OU-Z back then. It showed the campus' 1969 intramural flag football championship team. Among the players on that team were Mr. Hoefler, running back, and me, quarterback. Thank goodness the rest of that team was made up of real athletes. I hadn't seen him in those 30-odd years, so out of curiosity I called Mr. Hoefler and set up an appointment. That's what this is about -- not groovy old art or wannabe football players. No, this is about keeping in touch with teachers who shaped your life and the lives of so many others. Jim Hoefler was one of the best teachers I ever had. He actually made economics interesting to a citybilly like me -- and he taught me how to spell "entrepreneur." I did well in his classes -- until either my education in the public schools let me down or the fact I had too much fun in high school caught up with me. The discipline of economics got too hard. Everybody knows that when it comes to influencing the lives of young people, particularly college freshmen, we can't expect teachers, government leaders or coaches to make the difference. The buck stops with parents. Still, teachers like Jim Hoefler -- who has kept every one of his grade books since he started his teaching career -- do have a profound influence on their students. Mr. Hoefler recently was named associate dean of the Zanesville campus, an astute move by the Ohio University powers that be in Athens. He has taught at OU-Z since 1967, when the Newark Road campus opened. A native of Dayton, he received his undergraduate degree from the University of Dayton and his master's degree in economics from OU. As a new faculty member, he said, he "had a choice between OU-Eastern and Zanesville. Zanesville is closer to both Dayton and Columbus and not far from Athens. I thought I'd be here five years and move on." His wife, Carol, is coordinator of the bachelor studies program at OU-Z. Their children are no academic slouches either. Chad is working on his doctorate in biology at the University of Massachusetts; Amy is a graduate of the OU College of Business; Kate, also an alum, is pursuing a master's in creative writing at the University of Michigan; and Adam is a West Muskingum High School senior who will be a freshman on the Athens campus this fall. In addition to teaching economics on the OU-Z campus, Mr. Hoefler teaches two courses on the Internet. He was the first OU regional campus faculty member to offer Internet classes, which currently include upper-level Labor Economics and Money and Banking. Regional campus life has changed dramatically, both academically and socially, in the past 30 years, Mr. Hoefler said. "My classes used to be strictly lecture. Now they are multimedia, with small groups working on various exercises." Regional campus life today is, well, less "fun" and more "serious," he said. In the '60s, with the Vietnam War raging, close to 70 percent of regional campus students were males, many of them concerned about the military draft and the morality of the war. Now, about 70 percent of OU-Z students are female, probably because of its outstanding nursing, early childhood development and secondary education programs. OU-Z recently set an all-time enrollment record of 1,300 students, most of them with higher scholastic scores than their predecessors. Back in the glory days of "The Jimi Hoefler Experience," the "... social elements were so much greater," Mr. Hoefler said. "There was theater, a student newspaper, sororities, fraternities, student government, Ecology Club, Aviation Club and others." As for his beloved guitar, which made him a campus icon, Mr. Hoefler still has it, but due to the demands of family and career, he rarely plays it. Music remains an integral part of his life, however. When students enter his lecture hall, they are greeted by music, which he said "cuts the tedium." Hooking up after 30 years with a former student like me pleased us both. "They rarely keep in touch," he lamented. "I often wonder if they would know me. The great mystique is, what ever happened to them? One wonders where they end up, what are they doing now?" If you had a teacher who positively impacted your life like Jim Hoefler impacted mine, give that teacher a call. You'll both be better for it. Greg Parks, BSJ '72, is managing editor of The Cambridge (Ohio) Daily Jeffersonian, which originally published this column.
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