• Home
  • Blog Posts
  • Reflections
    • Share Your Reflections
  • Scholarship Updates
  • Donate Now
  • Donors
  • Jack Iversen
  • Postcards
    • Women’s Suffrage Postcards

In Memory of Dr. Joan Iversen

~ Honoring Her Legacy Through Building A Scholarship and Sharing Our History

In Memory of Dr. Joan Iversen

Daily Archives: February 20, 2014

“She was fiercely bright, but also extraordinarily accessible and human”

20 Thursday Feb 2014

Posted by Nancy J. Smyth in Reflections

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Former Student

20130621_193634I must say that Dr. Iversen was by far the best teacher I had at Oneonta (my second favorite was also a history teacher…what does that say about the English department?). That is high praise indeed coming from a secondary English ed major! I had her for The History of the US since WWII, and it is stating the obvious that she was magnetic and charismatic. We were in a pretty large lecture hall in IRC (I think that was the building), and as diminutive as she was, her spitfire persona filled the large room. But I have a personal anecdote I hope you find amusing and comforting.

Born in 1965, I was a long suffering Met fan when I took her class. It was the fall of 1986, and the Mets were finally a force with which to be reckoned. Unfortunately, they were playing an essential, must win game at the same time as the class’s midterm, The game started at 3:00, and the class was from 5:00-7:30. I went to campus at 3:00 and watched the game in a dorm across from the lecture hall. The game moved fast, and at 5:00, I had to leave to go to class with the Mets hopelessly behind, 3-0, going into the 9th inning. Dr. Iversen decided to run class for the first half, then administer the midterm during the second half of class. Very early into her lecture, there was cheering coming from outside the lecture hall; the Mets made a comeback to take the game into extra innings.

Jesse Orosco falls on his knees after he wins the 1986 World Series for the New York MetsWhen we had our break before the exam, I realized that the other class going on at the time in the lecture hall was watching the game instead of having class (I see the professor who taught that class in my mind’s eye, but cannot remember his name for the life of me. He was a chain smoking, popular government teacher I believe). I said something before the test to Dr. Iversen, tongue in cheek, that I came close to blowing off her test to watch the game across the hall. I got nervous about whether she may have been insulted, but she got it! When the Mets went ahead in the 13th with a run, we heard the cheering from outside, and she dispatched me to find out what was happening. When the Astros tied the game in the bottom of the inning, she again sent me outside to find out what had happened. Believe it or not, when the exam was finished at 7:30, the game was still going on, and I got to watch the end of the amazing victory in the back of the IRC.

I don’t know why that story memory has always stayed with me…probably because she was such an inspiration to me. The story is emblematic of my memory of her: she was fiercely bright, but also extraordinarily accessible and human. As a teacher for 26 years, every once in a while, when I get really passionate about something in my classroom, like teaching Huck Finn, I always feel as if I am channeling Dr. Iversen.

~ Andy Fried (1987)

Share this:

  • Email
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Print
  • More
  • Pocket
  • Reddit
  • LinkedIn
  • Tumblr

Like this:

Like Loading...

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Photo Gallery

Joan Smyth around 1967
Joan Smyth around 1967
Jack and Joan Iversen - Her 70th birthday party
Jack and Joan Iversen – Her 70th birthday party
Jack & Joan Iversen - Making Her Point at Her 70th birthday party
Jack & Joan Iversen – Making Her Point at Her 70th birthday party
Joan Iversen at her 70th birthday party, protesting having her photo taken.
Joan Iversen at her 70th birthday party, protesting having her photo taken.
Dr. Iversen & two student at the DC Rally
Pro-Choice Rally, DC, circa 1985 w/SUCO Women’s Alliance members Stevi Calandra & Robin Frankel
Dr. Iversen with trees in background.
Joan Iversen sponsoring a BBQ for the SUCO Women’s Alliance at her home on Goodyear Lake
Joan Iversen at podium, Mark Delligatti to the right
Joan Iversen Receiving Alumni Award, with Mark Delligatti, her nominator. Photo courtesy of Mark Delligatti.
The Iversen-Smyth Family, in 1976 Top left to right: Terry Smyth, Jack Iversen, Joan Smyth Iversen Bottom left to right: Tod Iversen, Kristen Iversen, Nancy Smyth, Jill Iversen
The Iversen-Smyth Family, in 1976 Top left to right: Terry Smyth, Jack Iversen, Joan Smyth Iversen Bottom left to right: Tod Iversen, Kristen Iversen, Nancy Smyth, Jill Iversen

Recent Posts

  • “Your Mother Changed My Life”
  • Happy Valentine’s Day from Joan Iversen’s Suffragettes
  • Photo Moment Memory: Joan Iversen & Mark Delligatti
  • Joan Iversen “was in every other sense my real mother”
  • Happy Anniversary to Joan and Jack Iversen

Progress on the Scholarship


Updated monthly.

In Memory of Joan Smyth Iversen

In Memory of Joan Smyth Iversen
February 2014
M T W T F S S
 12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
2425262728  
« Jan   Mar »

Archives

  • December 2018
  • February 2015
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013

Categories

  • Reflections
  • Scholarship Updates
  • Uncategorized
Follow In Memory of Dr. Joan Iversen on WordPress.com

Tags

Colleague Family Former Student Friend Postcards Women's Studies

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.com

Blog at WordPress.com.

Cancel
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
%d bloggers like this: