College says good-bye to retiring professors

Four faculty members retired this academic year. At commencement, three of the retirees received the Simon Carson Wells Medal. Dean Richard Smith, President Maxey and Morris Cregger, chair of the Roanoke College Board of Trustees, presented the retiring faculty members with the medal, which is named after Roanoke's longest-serving faculty member.

Associate Professor of Music Dr. Joseph Blaha came to Roanoke in 2002. He directed the jazz and wind ensembles for the past 16 years, taught music and general education curriculum courses, and served on various college and departmental committees. He brought live music to many Roanoke College events, whether spirited pep band music from the stands of the Cregger Center Arena or the traditional sounds of commencement processionals. Blaha is a conductor, performer (trombone, euphonium, piano and keyboard), award-winning composer, arranger and passionate advocate for the arts at the College. Blaha was inducted into the Iowa Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002 with the band Spectacle. His recent works include a Broadway-style musical and a nine and a half minute piece for band and African percussion, which commemorates the 500th anniversary of the posting of the 95 theses on the Wittenberg cathedral by Martin Luther. We will miss his many contributions to the College, his kind, generous spirit, his thoughtful observations and his endearing jokes and sense of humor.  

With 46 years of service, Professor of Psychology Dr. Galdino Pranzarone is the longest-serving member of his department and third-longest-serving faculty member in Roanoke College history. Since 2002, he has taught more than 20 different courses and 300 course sections to a total of over 4500 students; his Human Sexuality course was one of the most popular courses in the psychology department. Also popular was his long-running advice column, "Ask Dr. P.," in the campus student newspaper, The Brackety-Ack, which tackled difficult questions with humor and frankness. Pranzarone is an active scholar with numerous professional publications and dozens of presentations and workshops to his credit, which have led to hundreds of media appearances and interviews as well as a presence on scores of web sites. His interests are in physiological psychology, human sexuality and stress management. He is a deeply cherished friend and colleague to those in his department and across the campus community.  

John P. Fishwick Professor of English Dr. Robert Schultz came to Roanoke College in 2004 after a distinguished career at Luther College in Iowa. His students not only learned the poetry of Ezra Pound and Walt Whitman and the finer points of writing, but they learned life lessons from him, such as embracing one's own odyssey. In 2015, Schultz received the Roanoke College Dean's Award for Exemplary Professional Achievement for his accomplishments in several fields. He is a writer, scholar and artist who has published books of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction, as well as numerous essays and reviews. He is the author of a novel, The Madhouse Nudes; three collections of poetry, Ancestral Altars, Winter in Eden and Vein Along the Fault; and the nonfiction We Were Pirates: A Torpedoman's Pacific War. His interests and talent extend to unique art forms, including leaf prints using a chlorophyll processing method and handmade artist's books. His artwork and poems have appeared in a collaborative exhibition with photographer Binh Danh and are held by the U.S. Library of Congress. His inspiring talent, calm presence, wise counsel and unyielding dedication will be greatly missed.   

Also retiring this academic year (but not at commencement) was Professor of German and Linguistics Dr. James Ogier, who  retired in 2017 after 29 ½ years teaching all levels of German and directing the German minor as well as the College's general linguistics course. His wide-ranging language repertoire includes French, Spanish, Danish, two types of Icelandic, Finnish, modern Irish, Yoruba, Russian, and Maya, and he enjoyed working with independent study students wishing to learn an off-the-beaten-track language. A Fulbright Teacher Exchange recipient and awardee of the Dean's Award for Exemplary Teaching, Ogier was the first president of the College's Phi Beta Kappa Nu of Virginia Chapter. He is a committed scholar and co-edited the book review section of the Sixteenth Century Journal: The Journal of Early Modern Studies. His recent projects include editing a volume on German composer and poet Oswald von Wolkenstein and preparing an English edition of the songs of Michel Beheim. Ogier's students remember him for his classroom humor and willingness to go the extra mile.

Roanoke College thanks each of these retiring professors for their devoted years of service to the College and most importantly, to their students, and wishes them the best in retirement.