Creighton University - Bluejay Yearbook (Omaha, NE)

Page 142 text:

Horning Dr. Ross Horning, professor of history, is a man who combines academic standards in teaching but considers a warm, personal student-teacher relationship to be the key in the learning process. I treat students as friends, and they ' re friends after they leave Creighton, Horning said. But at the same time you have academic standards to uphold. Horning has been teaching at Creighton since 1964. Over the years he has held many committee positions and in 1984-85 was presi- dent of the Creighton University faculty. Homing ' s warmth and open personality have made history class for many students an enjoyable experience. In (teaching) history, you have to get across the fact that you ' re talk- ing about people, Horning said. They have to get the feel of the history and how it relates to contemporary society. Horning said that if you emphasize the human aspects of history, it brings more mean- ing into the class instead of just memorizing names, dates and places. He said for him, history is interesting and fun, and has been the foundation for many fantastic operas. Horning likes to apply his anecdotes to his classes and is always full of fascinating stories of his school days, travel and teaching ex- periences. Traveling has been one of Homing ' s favorite pastimes and some of his stops have included the Soviet Union, where he attended the University of Moscow for a summer, India, Poland, East and West Berlin, Iran, Athens, Rome, London and Ireland. His travels and scholarship have enabled him to become an expert on the Soviet Union and Russian history which he teaches at Creighton. Horning said that life in the Soviet Union was a great experience and he thinks that Americans get the wrong impression of Soviet citizens. He said that most lead a nor- mal life and accept their government and their role in it as routine, not as being oppressed, which many Americans believe. They ' re just like you or I, Horning said, and grinningly recalled the time that American tourists in Moscow took him for a Russian citizen. In addition to Russian history. Horning teaches the history of India, Ireland, Asia and Canada, and is a member of the executive council of the Association for Canadian Studies in the United States. But travel and history are not the only things that Horning enjoys or is talented at. During high school and college he played baseball in the minor leagues for the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals organizations. I like athletics, he said, and attributes this to his athletic abilities. Many times a week you can find him in the Kiewit Center shooting baskets with faculty members and students. He also enjoys tennis and is an avid ice skater. He was taught skating by his brother Jerry, also a Creighton faculty member, who once was a professional skater. Besides playing sports. Horning is chairman of Creighton ' s Athletic Board and of the Athletic Hall of Fame Committee. He said that he thinks it is important to keep athletics in perspective in a college atmosphere. Because of Homing ' s love for symphony, opera and ballet, he is a member of the univer- sity ' s Lectures, Films and Concerts Commit- tee, composed of students and faculty. Horning attributes his Ufestyle to his sense of adventure and curiosity. There should always be a spirit of adventure, he said, in both Hfe and learning, because that makes it fun! In Homing ' s 21 years at Creighton, he ' s noticed many changes, some for the better and some for the worse. He said that today students aren ' t as socially or politically con- cerned as in the 1960s. But he did add that this wasn ' t necessarily bad, since the ' 60s were such an extremely turbulent time. He said there also seems to be a lot of em- phasis on individualism, to the extent that many students are lacking a social conscience. Success is measured by financial stability and possessions, he said, and students are forget- ting about concerns of humanity and society. But he said that life at Creighton is better now than it ' s ever been. It ' s much more fun, natural and open than the days, he recalled, when female students had a 9 p.m. curfew. He hopes that students will always continue learning, because, he said, learning never ends. I can ' t stress enough how enjoyable it is to be in the process of becoming an educated per- son, he said, because he is still doing it today. 136

Page 141 text:

Five special teachers, clockwise from below: Dr. Bruce Mattson, Dr. Dan Murphy, Jerry Homing, Dr. Thomas Mans, Dr. Russ Hom- ing. 135

Page 143 text:

137