Lessons For A Teacher

After Inspiring Thousands Of Students, Kochanek Takes A Few Classes Of His Own

By: Kyle Charette

Posted: 3/21/07

To many at UConn he is a professor. Others would call him a student. He is also a mentor, a friend and a campus celebrity.

Richard F. Kochanek - known to everyone as Dick - is typically known by students for teaching the two mass sections of accounting 131 each semester, which gives him around 1,200 students a year. During his 34 years at UConn he has taught thousands of students, but his career has gone far beyond that of a normal professor.

He has served as the associate dean for Academic Programs in the School of Business and was the head of the Accounting Department. He's published accounting textbooks and articles and has received an array of teaching awards.

What's more, Kochanek doesn't just teach the average material in his classes, he delivers inspiration to his students and promotes life long learning.

"Dick didn't only change how I felt about business, but he also had a really positive impact on my outlook of the bigger picture," said Eric Gaudet, an 8th-semester marketing major.

For many, it's Kochanek's spirit that makes his class unique.

"I never knew what to expect when I went to Dick's class," said Jackie Oldham, a 4th-semester health care management major. "His stories about life were always funny and made going to class fun."

But Kochanek's impact hasn't only been on students. Many teachers across campus have also learned from him and have been inspired by his approach.

"The care and concern that Dick extends from the front of the classroom to every student who is listening to him is genuine and truly heartfelt," said Larry Gramling, an assistant professor of accounting.

"Dick was truly an inspiration to me," said Gramling, who once sat in on one of Kochanek's large lectures while preparing to teach his own. "Although at the time I had been teaching for nearly 20 years, I learned so much from Dick about truly engaging students in such a large section."

Up until 2003, Kochanek had spent his entire UConn career as a faculty member, but his passion for art finally caught up with him and he has since added a new title to his name - student.

Kochanek's humble fourth floor office in the School of Business building is a cluttered testament to his busy life. He has a coffee maker, a lonely plant by the window, art decorating the walls and boxes of handouts and bubble sheets piled on the floor.

Kochanek skips past some classical music on his automatic record player which holds multiple records at a time.

"These players are vintage from the 60's," Kochanek says. "I've collected about 30 of them."

He stops on a Bob Dylan record and puts on the song, "Lay Lady Lay." "I love Bob Dylan," Kochanek says. He listens for a minute. "His songs are just wonderful."

As Dylan's melodies float in the background, Kochanek points out the art around the room. There are charcoal drawings, paintings, prints and more.

"These are my art pieces from over the years," he says. He focuses on a colorful painting with abstract boats and lighthouses hanging above his desk. "This water color over here actually won first prize last summer in the Falmouth, Cape Cod Juried Art Show for an abstract piece of work. It was best in show."

Kochanek made the painting, entitled "Falmouth Harbor," in art professor Kathryn Myers' aqua media class.

"There is just so much love and positive energy emanating from him," Myers said. "It affected everyone around him and the dynamic of the class that year became something very special. I wish I could have someone like Dick in my class all the time."

Kochanek has come a long way since he started taking art classes and says he owes his success to everyone at the art department.

"I am so very grateful to the head of the art department, Judith Thorpe, and the entire talented art faculty for their guidance and support," Kochanek said.

In his office, Kochanek also has two very detailed and precise charcoal drawings. He drew them when he was 16 years old, but after being a versatile artist throughout much of his youth, he stopped drawing.

"I wanted to be an artist when I went to college but Mom and Dad said 'no, you have to do something that will lead to a career,'" Kochanek said. "I did art up until when I was 16 and then I never did anything again as an artist for 40 years."

Instead, Kochanek went into engineering, accounting, and finally, teaching.

"In retrospect it worked out really well because teaching, I think, is a very artistic pursuit in general," said Kochanek. "Teaching allowed me to really interact with human beings and constantly be challenged by young people."

As the years went by, Kochanek meant to get back into art, but he was too busy with work and family. When he had a break from his busy life and tried to start again, he just couldn't do it.

"Nothing ever came," he said.

In 2003, Kochanek finally decided that it was time to go for it.

"I said 'Dick, you know you're 60 now, and if you don't start now, then you're never going to do it,'" Kochanek said.

However, the transition from the black and white rules of accounting to the open ended form of art was a tough one.

"I had no idea how challenging the life of the artist is," he said. "In art, you're an individual, you go in and there's nothing to begin with. You just have to sit down and be so creative, it's absolutely frightening. But then when you finish it, wow."

This creative ability also runs in Kochanek's family - his youngest daughter, Jennifer, is a poet. She is 32 and lives in California.

"I told her it would be hard for her," Kochanek said. "But she's having some success now and I really have an appreciation of how difficult her path in life is."

Kochanek and his wife Marge also have two other daughters, Kathie and Chris.

While Kochanek's award for his painting is a first, receiving scholarly awards is nothing new to the Professor.

"I've received a lot of rewards over my lifetime ... more than I've ever deserved," Kochanek said. "My greatest achievements are the last two awards I've received. They're both from student organizations."

This past February, Kochanek was given the first "Faculty of the Year Award" by Alpha Lambda Delta, an honor society for first year students.

Before that, Kochanek was named the 2004-2005 Outstanding Educator of the Year by the Academic Affairs Committee of USG.

"To be fortunate enough to receive awards from the student's themselves over the whole university ... Wow, that's just pretty special," Kochanek said.

It's no fluke, however, that Kochanek has won such honors. Many students across the campus have praised him for his dedication and style of teaching.

What's more, Kochanek feels like he is only getting better at what he does.

"I'm really doing some of the best work of my life," Kochanek said. "That's really important to me at 64 years old. I'm finding my teaching is probably the most joyous teaching I've ever done because of my ability to focus now."

Now that Kochanek is no longer the department head, he's been able to put a lot more into his teaching. He is up at 5 a.m. everyday to prepare for his 8 a.m. lecture. He is in class with his handouts ready by 7:15 greeting students as they come in.

One of the most distinctive aspects of Kochanek's teaching is his quote of the day, something which he always talks about before delving into the day's lesson. The quotes include thoughts about inspiration, attitude, success, disappointment and typical day-to-day obstacles.

One of his favorites is by Sidney J. Harris, "Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable."

A skill that makes Kochanek's teaching style interesting is his ability to, capture the attention of students and bring the class back to life with one of his famous anecdotes.

For example, one of his anecdotes is about his childhood friend, Chet, who claimed he reached his baseball prime when he was 10 years old. He figured he couldn't get any better than he was, so he stopped trying and never found success. Kochanek tells these stories to show students that their potential is limitless and that they should never stop learning and growing.

"I've always wanted to share some life lessons with the students, even when I first started teaching." Kochanek said. "It kind of lets the class know that I'm a human being that faces everything that they face in life. We're all in this together."

Kochanek was inspired by his college days. It was those days when he started to become a good student and realize his potential. It's because of these positive experiences that he's able to bring so much enthusiasm into the classroom.

"In college, you should be able to explore who you are as a person and begin to develop yourself," Kochanek said.

This is why Kochanek feels so strongly about students going to class.

"If there's anything you should do, never miss a class," Kochanek said. "You're not only going to class to learn a lesson, but you're going to class to learn from a human being."

To Kochanek, it's this richness of human beings that makes college special.

"It's the teacher, your fellow students, the interaction that makes you think about, who am I? What am I supposed to be doing in life? What do I want to be?" he said.

This is how Kochanek figured out what he wanted to be, and to UConn, he has become all of those things, a teacher, a student, a mentor and a friend.