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| Former
UM President James Koch |
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Former
University president
volunteers to teach class
Former
UM President James Koch has returned to the Missoula campus to volunteer
his time teaching students about World War II.
Koch
teaches a class on World War II history every Tuesday evening from
7:10-10 p.m. in Gallagher Business Building Room L04.
“World War II was the seminal event of the 20th Century,”
Koch said. “The very same types of issues persist today that
did in World War II, only now we’re talking about Arabs instead
of the Japanese.”
The class features lectures, the BBC “World at War” series
and veteran speakers. Veterans from the allies and axis powers speak
in the class and students have the opportunity to ask them questions.
“They (the veterans) give students a sense of reality of the
war and what happened,” Koch said. “They humanize the
war.”
One speaker, 87-year-old John Sitte, is a German veteran. He flew
more than 600 missions in the Luftwaffe — the German air force
— during World War II, was shot down twice and held in an ally
prison camp. Sitte then immigrated to the United States.
Aside from hearing about history of the war, students are able to
think about how the war affects their lives today. From Russia’s
current opposition to NATO because of its roughly 30 million deaths
in World War II to Japan’s use of germ warfare in China, the
consequences of the war have changed the way people live today.
“There are a lot of things today that spring from the war,”
Koch said. “I try to connect the war to the types of things
that students see today.”
Koch served as UM’s 15th president from September 1986 to June
1990. While here, Koch increased enrollment, launched an extensive
campaign to improve the University’s image and increased the
number of student activities and participants.
He resigned his position at UM to become president of Old Dominion
University in Norfolk, Va., where he was chosen as one of America’s
100 most effective university presidents by an Exxon Foundation study.
In July 2001, Koch retired from his position as president of Old Dominion,
and he and his wife moved back to Missoula. However, he still is an
economics professor at Old Dominion.
“The University was always good to me, so I wanted to give back
to it. I’m very impressed by the progress the University has
made,” Koch said.
Last autumn semester, Koch taught the same class, which he also taught
at Old Dominion. He notes his inspiration for teaching this class
comes from his time spent near Pearl Harbor while at the University
of Hawaii and from teaching in Norfolk, home to the largest naval
base in the United States.
The World War II history class has a student audience of around 70,
but many people, including veterans, come to just sit in on the class
and listen.
“It’s a class that is, therefore, really open to the public,”
Koch said. He invites anyone in the community to come and sit in.
However, there won’t be any pop quizzes given to the veterans.
He said, “I promise not to ask any questions.” If he did,
he might be giving out too many As.
—By Brianne Burrowes
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