Have you ever wondered what UCD professors were like in college?

Don’t you sometimes find it weird when your professors tell you stories that start with “when I was your age…”? Or when you see them outside of the lecture halls doing normal people things like eat, walk around or attend events? Below are some interesting facts and quirks behind the people you only see as professors.

Prof. Duane Kouba – Department of Mathematics: “Once I started growing my hair long and cussing I kind of changed”

Prof. Kouba’s a super eccentric person, the type to cackle and snort in class while lecturing. He always wears his beanie as seen in the picture above, slightly pulled up at the top.

“I was kind of a bookworm, kind of a nerd. Everybody else thought I studied too much. But I did other sports things and I was quite sociable.

“Getting good grades didn’t come easy to me but I was obsessed, I set my goals high – I took 18 units every semester.

“This was 1970s, so there were hippies and feminism and race riots going on you know around the country, it was a volatile time. So I decided not to get a haircut, I had an afro. My hair was a foot long and it was naturally curly so it would just fluff out after showers. My nickname in the dorms because of my hairdo and quirky sense of humor was Wild Man of Borneo.

“I didn’t even drink alcohol when I was underaged because the legal age was 19 in Iowa.”

“I was in the Student government and I had friends in social fraternities that just wasn’t my style so I did dorm stuff and intramural sports, mainly basketball. I was very quiet, would be communicative with people once I got to know them but I was pathologically shy as a freshman.”

“Once I started growing my hair long and cussing I kind of changed and came out of my shell. I started going barefoot to class, I had handlebar sideburns down to my chin, came to a point where my hair was down over my eyes and down on my shoulders.”

Prof Kouba is one the far left of this photo. “Don’t laugh at the shorts I’m wearing, they were a trend!

“Blue jeans, flannel shirts and no shoes during the spring and summer months, but eventually I started wearing shoes again.”

Prof. Enderle – Department of Chemistry: “I went as a cage dancer in Halloween”

“I was in Intervarsity Christian Fellowship, they were fun. I was mellow, easygoing.

“I remember some professors I didn’t like, I built part of my teaching based on professors that I didn’t like. I decided to do what they didn’t do.”

“Responsible. [laughs] They want to hear that I partied hard and all that.”

“I went as a cage dancer in halloween, I thought of what people wore to raves so I built my own cage.” (Obviously, he’s the one standing second from the left, but everyone say whaaaat? That’s squad goals right there.)

“This is me as a nun. Materials I had at home.”

“This is me cross-country skiing. More downhill skiing, I did camping.”

“We just dressed up for fun, (it wasn’t halloween)”

“Swing dancing! I did swing dancing. I thought it was fun, I took the experimental college. I took it with friends, originally I took ballroom dancing but I liked swing dancing more. The instructor had her own dance studio and she asked some of us to be on her dance team. So we did swing dance performances sometimes.”

“I climbed Mt. Shasta for fun.”

William Tavernetti – Department of Mathematics: “Immature, curious about mathematics and philosophy”

“UCSB. Santa Barbara is a gorgeous campus, it’s really nice- by the ocean. Studied philosophy for the first 2 years and mathematics for the second 2 years.

“I was on a frisbee team and I was part of the tennis club. I used to go rock climbing pretty much every day in college because Santa Barbara’s got a great rock climbing gym.”

“My best years in Santa Barbara is waking up really early before the sun rises, like 5:30 in the morning and going for a run along the beach and watching the sun rise. I started every morning this way for 2 years, and it was amazing for me because when you’re up at 5:30 in the morning you have the whole day in front of you. I’d make myself 2 eggs and a cup of coffee to start the day.”

“That’s boring right?  [laughs] wow these professors they just what do they do they wake up early they start doing homework and studying. What kind of example are they setting for college students?”

“I used to skateboard every day in college. Every day I wore long pants and skateboarding shoes and a t-shirt. I used to have an appearance like a punk maybe? A little bit.

“I also liked swimming in the ocean and surfing. I pretty much stopped doing those activities when I moved back home and went to go work at NASA and became a responsible adult. Had to wear normal clothes- nice shoes, button down to work, tie sometimes.

“I was also secretary at the Chess club, does that count? That is so boring! I can see it on your face, you’re like oh my god. I also worked for the office of student advocate/government.

“Like most college students, my diet was very poor in college. I was a good student, studied very hard, getting good grades. I made a point to go to all my classes, go to all the office hours and this takes a lot of time, that’s like a 6 hour a day job every day. A lot of people don’t do this. A lot of nights I used to go to bed late, like 1:30 in the morning and wake up at 5:30, so I’d only get 4 hours of sleep.”

“One thing that was interesting about my partying in college was that I stopped partying entirely in my sophomore year of college. Freshman year I went to a few parties but sophomore, junior and senior year I didn’t drink any alcohol, do any drugs, I actually didn’t have my first legal drink of alcohol until I was 25. I just didn’t drink at all, this started in graduate school after finishing exams I was like I’ll just have a beer and it broke that cycle.”

“It started as a I’m just not going to drink and then it started to become weird, like when you’re 24 something and everybody’s having a beer and you’re like I’m just not going to drink, it’s actually weirder to not drink that to just like have a beer and have a sip of it. For some reason, that’s just our culture I suppose. That was an interesting decision I think.

“Most students have this social triangle of social life, good grades and sleep. You can have all three if you choose to have good grades as the priority and sleep comes and goes, so sometimes you’re getting good sleep something you’re not getting good sleep and social life with minimal partying or no alcohol and do what you want with your friends.”

“Over the summer, I used to work at a restaurant. One summer I did summer in England, that was really fun. I studied Shakespeare and the history of England at Cambridge University. And another summer I did research experience for undergraduates, and that was extremely useful for going to graduate school.

“Sophomore year of college I had a compression fracture in my spine – broke my back skiing. Then didn’t ski again until graduate school. It really hurts so bad to breathe for weeks.”

 

After all that, it’s nice to know the people behind the professors who teach you everyday.