Michigan Astronomy Remembers...
Richard L Sears
Dick Sears was with the department for 40 years. He taught astro 101/111 to hundreds of undergrads almost every year. In addition, he taught upper level classes on stellar structure and computational astrophysics and grad level classes on stellar structure and evolution and on galactic structure. Thousands of students passed through his classes. He is remembered as always being cheerful and good-humored, and always having time for students who had questions.
Stories and memories
I remember one particular story when I needed to pick up my final exam in his (old) office (on the 8th floor). So I went in, not sure whether he actually was behind those 6-foot tall stacks of papers from who-knows-when that resembled the leaning tower of Pisa and had probably been there longer than I had been alive. The voice behind the paper said "Yeeeees, come in, please", so I went and told him I was there to pick up the exam. He said "ahh, now where did I put that?", reached for a stack of paper (1 foot high) on his desk and, sure enough, pulled out the exam. The stack subsequently started to precariously lean over to one side, so he caught it, set it straight, laughed at me, and said in his deep voice: "hahaha, gravity!".
Kaspar Von Braun
When I was an undergrad, I was fascinated by Prof. Sears's suspenders. He seemed to have them in all sorts of colors and patterns, including things like smiley faces and santa hats. In my early years of teaching, the memory of Prof. Sears and his suspenders were an important reminder that you don't have to take everything too seriously to be a good teacher.
Shannon Murphy
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