March 23, 2020: Spanning the decades: 1951-2020

When I was interviewing for dean jobs, I was sometimes asked to summarize my career. This request led me to reflect on what I came to describe as 'arcs' in my career, basically eight- to ten-year periods of relative consistency in my career. Besides the academic life, I could use the same approach to my entire life. So let me provide a quick summary of those arcs while you reflect on the accompanying photo of Gary Levine, leaning on our orange VW Beetle in the driveway of 3158 East Church Street, around 1974.

The Fifties (1951-58). Born September 25, 1951, lived at 129 Leonard Street in Lackawanna and attended walkable (it was at the end of our street, maybe a half mile from home) McKinley school through second grade. Moving to Eden in November 1958 was the start of my country life and, for the most part, my Sixties.

The Sixties (1958-1969). This was East Church Street, the arrival of my last two siblings (Jim, 1960; Mark, 1963), starting school with the Grey Nuns at Immaculate Conception (1958-1963), and the last six years at Eden Central (1963-1969), my teen years.

The Seventies (1969-1978). Starting what would become fifty years of university life at Binghamton in September 1969 and ending with finishing at Penn State in August 1978, completing my doctoral dissertation and graduating in November 1978. Longstanding friends include Gary Levine (in picture, above) and Maxine Mintzer, Gary Greenberg, the late Larry Timm, Mona Margarita, Lois Friedman, Lysa Palant and, later at Penn State, Richard Henry.

The Eighties (1978-1992). These were my early professional years, Kansas (1978-198), with side trips to Wyoming (1982-83) and Chapel Hill (fall 1986) and five years at Marquette (1987-1992).

Dena (1990). Lucky me, we married in November 1990 and lived on Kools Court in Appleton.

The Nineties (1992-2001). Starting with becoming dean at Central Arkansas (1992-95) at the age of forty, through my Loyola Sellinger deanship (1996-2001), this was my intensive academic administration era.

The Twenty-First Century (2001 to 2019). Tired of the grief and abuse of meaning, I resigned as Loyola dean in August 2000, effective July 2001, just in time to step into the geopolitical turmoil of September 11, 2001. These were the family years, with Jane (b. 1996) and Gaby (b. 1998) part of the reason I chose to become a full-time dad, no longer distracted by the academic swamp. For the first eight years or so, I actively engaged with business schools seeking a dean with the record of success I had in nine years, had some offers, and decided it best to stay put. I'd say, "The best job on campus is 'former business dean.'" After basically two arcs, I retired in June 2019.

Harrison (2020). The arcs are not done yet. I still have something to contribute, yet at the same time, after fifty years (1969-2019) in the academic swamp, I am most often appreciative that while I had a great career and did a solid job as an academic, it was time to leave the swamp that seemed incapable of correcting course for the 21st century. The current coronavirus catastrophe has strongly reinforced that leaving at the time I did, with the deal I did and the decisions we made, could not have turned out any better, even if we knew what was going to happen in 2020.