This is the last week of class for four professors at the College of Arts and Sciences who have spent a combined 154 years at OU.

Larry Hill, George Henderson, David Levy and Ken Taylor are retiring after devoting decades of their lives to teaching in the political science, human relations, history and history of science departments, respectively. Henderson, Levy and Taylor all joined the OU faculty in 1967. Hill began teaching in 1970.

The soon-to-be-retirees are leaving the classroom, but not their fields. Taylor wants to travel and has trips to Italy and France planned for this year. But Norman will still be his home, he said, and when he's here he will continue researching and writing on the history of science in the 18th century. Henderson plans to do consulting and writing for other human relations professionals.

Levy is going to devote more of his time to a project that he began more than a decade ago. During the university's centennial celebration, he was inspired to begin work on a history of OU. Levy said a scholar hadn't tackled the subject since 1941.

When he was hired, Levy said he knew "almost nothing" about the university, but he has made it his mission to change that. He's spent years combing through manuscripts, photos, former professors' personal files and minutes from Regents' meetings.

He said he is condensing it into a three-volume series of books about OU history. The first book, which covers the school until World War I, has already been published. Levy hopes to have the second volume out by 2007.

In the 1970s, Taylor was on the task force that was responsible for rewriting the regulations concerning faculty evaluations.

"All faculty are evaluated every year within their departments, and the three areas of evaluation are teaching, research and service," Taylor explained. "When I first came to the university 39 years ago, there was a kind of tacit belief on the part of faculty and administration that, of these three categories, it was sufficient for a faculty member to be active in two of them, and they could choose which two."

Professors who wanted to concentrate on teaching and service could ignore research if they wanted to. But Taylor and other task force members believed that research is crucial for faculty at a good university.

Thanks to Taylor and the task force, faculty members from all fields are expected to make contributions outside the classroom.

Hill is a public administration expert who has spent 36 years at OU. During that time, he wrote or edited five books and 18 shorter works.

Lifetimes at OU

Four OU professors, with combined 154 years of service, will retire.

o George Henderson, human relations professor

o Larry Hill, political science professor

o David Levy, history professor

o Ken Taylor, history of science professor

Source: Staff reports

All the professors interviewed said they are looking forward to the opportunity to devote more time to travel, family and research. But each one also said he will miss his time in the classroom.

"It's a wonderful thing to be able to spend your life around young people," Levy said.

Henderson will miss "being able to reach individuals who will be community leaders and residents and who will shape my future and the future of others, and the enthusiasm that some of them bring to the classroom," he said. "I exist outside the classroom. I live inside of it."
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