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On campus Q&A: Richard Scofield, HCC
By JAY CRIDLIN Before he introduces himself, Professor Richard Scofield is up from his desk and out the door. "Let me show you the best part about me," he says, ambling across the hall to his classroom in Hillsborough Community College's Ybor City library. "I claim this is the nicest room at Hillsborough Community College," he says as he opens the door. "Naturally, I'm prejudiced, because I created it." The artifacts inside -- a fresco from Crete, a golden ankh from Egypt, an Asante fertility doll from Benin -- come from 33 years of trekking the globe as an HCC humanities professor. Scofield and several classes of students have traveled to study the humanities abroad. This is Scofield's final year at HCC -- his wife's ailing health led him to participate in the state's Deferred Retirement Option Program. "I really have no desire to quit," he says. "So many people hate their job, but I really love working here." He recently sat down in his empty classroom for a conversation with St. Petersburg Times staff writer Jay Cridlin. Here are excerpts: Do you remember your first day of teaching here? I don't remember the first day of teaching, but we were in trailers at Hillsborough High School. Well -- yes, I do remember one thing. I came in and I said, "Is it always so hot here? When's it going to cool off?" And one of the students in front of me said, "It has." Sept. 15, I remember it very well. I've never liked heat. That's the only thing I don't like about Florida. But I'd never want to go back to the north now. How long did you go overseas through HCC? Well, the program lasted seven years, and then HCC canceled it ... it was a time of some of the terrorist threats. And HCC would never say that. But I think that's why it was canceled. But it was so successful; people asked us to continue, so we just continued the program on our own and did it on our own. It was an HCC program for seven years, and then we continued for six more years. So for 13 years, we took people overseas. Why travel abroad? Why not study the humanities here in America? We're an extension of European culture. I tell the students our ideas of beauty are from Greece, our ideas about law are from Rome, our ideas of religion from the Hebraic tradition, Christianity. So I think to properly understand yourself is one of the reasons for studying the region. Europe has such a long history of cultural achievement. I mean, you walk through an Italian city and every other building, there's a story involved. We travel a lot in America, and Monticello is a great achievement, there's no question about it. But in Rome, every other building is a great achievement. There's just so much more there. What do the students get out of seeing these things firsthand? Well, number one, they earn credit. It was a regular college course, you see. They got an incredible exposure that you simply can't get in a book. I mean, it's great to read about the Parthenon, and see pictures of the Parthenon, but to actually walk right up to the Parthenon and understand the condition of the building, what it means to the Greeks -- it's experiencing it firsthand and experiencing it secondhand. The artifacts and objects you have in your classroom -- where do you buy them? Is there a secret to it? It took years. I'd buy something one year, and then a little something the next, and then I'd have two or three things. I bought them all over Europe. There are all kinds of places that they are for sale. Many of them I got at museums, which are a great source. The great museums all over the world. Each artifact brings back all kinds of memories for me. I've just got all kinds of treasures here. It's always been an integral part, an extension of the course itself. They've told me a lot of the students have wanted to go to Europe because of the course and the things they've seen in the room. When did you start traveling, and why is this a fascination for you? We've always loved to travel. On our honeymoon, where people go to Niagara Falls, we went to Natchez, because we just liked to go and see people. And then intellectually, as a professor, you're intrigued with a lot of the things. ... We travel a lot in this country. We took our kids to L.A., we took them to the Grand Canyon. We wanted to travel America first before we went overseas. How many countries have you been to in your lifetime? I have no idea. Let me start where I haven't been. We've never been to South America. I haven't been to Alaska, strangely enough. Never been to Bali. I'd love to go to India, but my wife couldn't take a trip to India now. But we've been to all the major countries in Western Europe, by the nature of the program. We've been to Russia, we've been to China, Hong Kong, Macau. When you come back to the United States from overseas, what's one thing you see here that makes you wish you were still traveling? I love the United States. I'm an American to the core. ... I love to go, but I love to come back. I'm used to the comforts and the convenience here. A lot of people my age want to live overseas. ... I'm very happy in Florida. It's unusual that a community college would be able to support a travel program that could send students abroad for even as short a period of time as HCC did. It was an unusual course, there's no question about it. Unfortunately, HCC doesn't have the program anymore, which I hope they will provide sometime. But it was a very successful operation. Is there a danger that community college students will no longer be able to experience these sorts of things? Yes. That's the worst part. Our first program was about $1,600 for a month, and that was a terrific deal, with two meals a day. I had students who'd gone and worked all year to go on the course, as I recall. Of course, most of the time, their parents paid for it. Then, as the prices went up and up, the students just couldn't afford it. That's when we began recruiting the seniors. So it's a real problem, to say nothing of the terrorist problem. But it's very expensive to go overseas. I don't know anyplace that's cheap. Will it be tough to stop traveling once you retire? Well, you can always travel. When we went on the Queen Mary a year ago, we had a delightful trip. The only problem with traveling today is my wife's health. Will it be different traveling without a group of students? Oh, of course. You have a great deal more freedom when you're on your own because of all the students and the problems. I had students who got married -- they met on the trip and got married -- and all kinds of crazy things. Broken legs in the Alps. It's a lot easier when you go on your own.
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From the Times North of Tampa Marlene Sokol City Times - South Tampa |
