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135 Voices Alumni Spotlight

• Kathy Hill Tunheim: Class of 1979

  In my sophomore year at the U, within minutes of starting my Constitutional law course, I knew I was in the presence of a remarkable teacher and was going to love the intellectual challenges and sense of civil discourse. Thirty years later, there are lessons learned in that class that I still recall.

  Professor Harold (Hal) Chase began with the quiet acknowledgment that he was not only our professor, but also the author of the expensive textbook we had been compelled to purchase. He then asked us to line up so that he could write each of us a personal check, equal to the amount of his royalty for the book.

  We learned quickly that this was not a class to attend unprepared. While Chase was always patient, even ready with a quip if he sensed that a student needed a few seconds to gather her thoughts, he also sent the strong message that, if we had enough respect for him, our classmates, and ourselves, we wouldn’t make that mistake. He used a Socratic style to draw us into discussions about cases. The pace was demanding but exhilarating.

  I came to appreciate the word collegial in that course. Chase was the professor and therefore “in charge.� But he so graciously shared the responsibility to engage that we students learned how to graciously accept the responsibility too. I also learned that some people have keen insight and it pays to listen to them. Chase had a wonderful capacity for showing enthusiasm for a new idea or observation. But during monologues by classmates who liked to hear themselves talk, he had a gift for respectfully telegraphing to the rest of us, with a subtle smile, that it was OK to multitask during these long recitations.

  While it is true that I had the benefit of many great teachers throughout my CLA education, I freely confess that Chase was key to those years at the University being among the best in my life.

  Ms. Tunheim is CEO of Tunheim Partners, a national communications consulting firm based in Minneapolis. She holds a B.A. in Political Science (’79) from the U of M.

  December 2nd, 2007