UConn alumnus named professor of the year

Frances Pilch, a UConn alumnus and professor of political science at the Air Force Academy, was chosen from 300 candidates as the Colorado Professor of the Year by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education last month.

Pilch received her bachelor of arts degree in political science from UConn in 1963. She has been teaching at the Air Force Academy since 1998. A professor and deputy head of the political science department, Pilch enjoys teaching, but feels she is no better than other professors at the academy.

"I love teaching, I love the classroom…I'm interested in communicating stuff to students. And helping students kind of find themselves and fulfill themselves. And, get [them] curious about the world. And be enthusiastic about learning," said Pilch.

She was a passionate student who was able to finish her undergraduate degree in three years. But Pilch did not miss out on anything that UConn offered. She took a wide range of classes from political science, to chemistry, to music.

"I did a lot of stuff, I really did. I loved UConn. I even took horseback riding one semester. It was one of the only Bs I got because I was a terrible rider," laughed Pilch at the memory.

She was a member of Delta Pi and a pianist in musical theatre productions including "Oklahoma!" and "Brigadoon." She was also a member of multiple music groups and worked in a chemistry lab.

Pilch remembers many professors that had a significant impact on her. One chemistry professor in particular inspired her so much that she began working in his lab and credits him for inspiring in her a passion for the subject.

"It's so hard to make chemistry fascinating, and he was just a phenomenal lecturer. He just made everything come alive," Pilch said. "And then I did some lab stuff on the side and he sort of supervised me with that, and I loved it. I was very close to being a chemistry major,"

After graduating from UConn, Pilch completed an internship with the State Department in the Division of African Affairs. She joked that she did not do much of anything during her internship, but that it was still a great learning experience for her.

Pilch earned her graduate degree in political science at Yale University and then began teaching at Rutgers University. She took a 25-year break from teaching to run Poor Richard's Bookshop, her own bookstore. When large book chains began opening, she decided to return to teaching at Rutgers. From there she moved on to the Air Force Academy, where she has been for the last 13 years.

Pilch feels connected to the school and the success of her students, especially because her son graduated from the Academy in 1993. For her, the most poignant part of winning this award was the student letters that were sent in about her. She feels that her mission as a professor is to encourage learning and positively affect her students' lives.

"What I really hope is that they get inspired to be enthusiastic about learning for their whole lives," she said. "Because, I know they are not going to remember the specifics that I teach, because I don't remember the specifics of what my UConn professors taught me. But what they did do was make me very interested in a subject area."

Second Lieutenant Bradford Waldie took Pilch's course as a first class cadet. He feels she had a large impact on his academic experience and wrote her a recommendation for the award.

"It would be a vast understatement to say that she has been an inspiration, a trusted mentor and an integral part of my development and education while working toward my undergraduate degree," Waldie wrote in his letter.

Waldie also said that Pilch turned a class in which most students would not be interested into one of the most powerful and thought-provoking courses offered at the Academy.

"Dr. Pilch's success in encouraging learning beyond the school boundaries is only matched by her ability to engage her students within the classroom," he wrote.

During her time at the Air Force Academy, Pilch worked to create the course War Crimes, Genocide and Human Rights. One of her goals as a professor is to make students aware of human rights violations.

She started the course a year after she began at the Academy because there were no courses about armed conflict, which she felt was unbefitting of a service academy. Her course, which is the most popular elective offered at the school and typically attracts 110 students, addresses atrocities that have taken place in human history. The course covers the Holocaust, the Cambodian genocide and the Rwandan genocide. It also teaches about torture, Guantanamo Bay, Iraqi prisons, the My Lai massacre in Vietnam and the death penalty.

"They go away from that course with their eyes open. They think it's very depressing...but at the same time if they don't confront these issues they won't know they're out there," Pich said.

Pilch is very active in her community, in the World's Fair Council and in the United Nations Association. She has applied for a Fulbright teaching position in Mongolia next year. Her plan is to retire in about three years. She wants to continue writing and hopes to teach at different universities after she retires.

"If UConn wants me to come teach a course I'd actually be very enthusiastic [about it]," she said.

Pilch said she loved her time at UConn and has many fond memories of it. Her advice to current students is to "have a wonderful time, and thrive, and do everything you feel like doing."