Economics professor celebrates milestone
Generations of Jayhawks have gone through Prof. Harry Shaffer's economics class. He's been teaching at KU for 50 years, and although the state forced him to retire back in 1990 because of his age, he came back on board as an adjunct professor. Enlarge video
Kansas University economics professor Harry Shaffer, 86, chats it up during a class intermission with Katie Sullivan, Tulsa junior. The two spoke during a break in Tuesday afternoon's lecture in Budig Hall at KU. Shaffer, who is in his 50th year of teaching at KU, has developed a large fan base among his students thanks to his loveable personality.
Those Kansas University students are just wild about Harry.
"Oh yea, we DO need to give it up for this guy, cuz he is the MAN!" one student wrote on the Harry Shaffer online fan club message board.
Another proclaimed the KU economics professor is the cutest man ever.
"I just want to go up and kiss him on the cheek like all the ladies on the 'Price is Right' do to Bob Barker," she wrote.
Shaffer, 86, doesn't mind the attention. And, as he celebrates his 50th year teaching at KU, he's getting quite a bit of it.
"I think I'm the only professor at KU who has a fan club," he said.
Aptly called "Harry Shaffer is the Man!" the group has swelled to more than 500 members. And the economics department is throwing a private bash Saturday for Shaffer to celebrate his golden anniversary.
"He certainly deserves to be held up as a model for all of us," said James Gunn, KU professor emeritus of English.
Audiences
Shaffer was forced to retire in 1990 by a state law that is no longer on the books. He resisted.
"I went to my chairman and I told him: 'I want to continue teaching. If you don't have any money, I'll teach for nothing,'" Shaffer recalled.
He now teaches an introductory course for noneconomics majors and does get a paycheck. Hundreds of students fill the lecture room in Budig Hall. He has five teaching assistants and admits he can't get to know all his students. But he prefers these large classes. The bigger the audience, the better.
"I want everybody to hear what I have to say," he said.
Shaffer's daughter, Tanya Shaffer, thinks her father enjoys the performance aspect of his work.
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"He feels like what he's talking about is important," she said. "He views economics as a mirror into the whole society. : He views it as an opportunity to educate people about things that are important."
In his class Tuesday, Shaffer leaned against a projector that stood taller than he. His dark jacket partially hid suspenders that his students find endearing.
He read from the works of Karl Marx. He told personal stories.
"He has an Austrian accent," said Julia Wood, a KU student who has taken Shaffer's course. "Sometimes you can't understand what he's saying. He knows that, and he makes jokes about that."
Wood's father, Terry Wood of Topeka, took Shaffer's course in 1961.
Terry Wood said Shaffer is one of only a handful of faculty he recalls after all these years.
"For some reason I remember him," Terry Wood said. "I think he had my attention. That's pretty lucky for a guy teaching sophomores."
Eric Sorrentino, a KU senior, started Shaffer's fan club on Facebook, an online directory that connects people through social networks.
"We just wanted to show our appreciation of what we've learned from that class," he said.
Shaffer visits the message board, and he reads each student evaluation he receives. He's been known to share the evaluations with his students.
Some students gush about how much they adore him.
Wild about Harry Shaffer
Name: Harry Shaffer, economics professor at Kansas University
Family: Wife Betty, four children; Betty has two children; six grandchildren
Birthplace: Vienna, Austria
Education: Ph.D., New York University
Work experience: Taught at Concord College, Athens, W.Va.; University of Alabama; KU since 1956; two quarters at University of California-Davis; two semesters at University of Oregon
Published books: 11
Hobbies: Bridge
Social causes you value the most: Equal rights for all, irrespective of race, religion, country of origin, sexual orientation.
What is the secret for your longevity and enthusiasm?: Love of my subject, of teaching; and my students, my TAs, and above all my wife, Betty.
Who is your favorite economic theorist and why?: John Maynard Keynes. He wanted to change a free-market system to make government more responsible for the well-being of all. "Free market where it works; government intervention where necessary" was his fundamental philosophy.
What is your favorite thing about teaching and KU?: I really love everything, our town, our faculty, my chairman. Lawrence is truly a great place to live, KU a great university to teach at.
"They say I'm cute," Shaffer said. "I look in the mirror, and I don't think I'm cute."
Civics
Born in Vienna, Austria, Shaffer, who is Jewish, fled Europe in the late 1930s. He first made it to Cuba, where he stayed for two years before coming to the United States in 1940.
He served in the U.S. Army before rushing through school on the GI Bill.
"When I was a kid and people asked me how I wanted to make my living, I said I wanted to make my living talking," he said.
His passion lies in teaching.
Shaffer taught at the University of Alabama. In 1956, the U.S. Supreme Court forced the school to admit Autherine Lucy, the first black student. That caused an uproar on the campus, and the university's response was to expel her.
Shaffer was among the first faculty to leave, appalled by the university's actions.
"I felt that I could not be honorably associated with the university," he said.
Shaffer came to KU and a small town that struggled with its own race issues.
In Lawrence, Shaffer recalled, many businesses didn't cater to blacks. Shaffer in 1960 became president of the Lawrence League for the Practice of Democracy, a civil rights group. Activists, including students, picketed the privately owned Jayhawk Plunge, a segregated swimming pool.
"He knows firsthand the effects of discrimination and how damaging that can be," Tanya Shaffer, his daughter, said.
Her father later protested the Vietnam War. He opposes all wars and killing, he said, including the death penalty.
Shaffer tells some of his stories to his classes.
"I don't think there's been any professor who brings that kind of history and firsthand experience to the table that Dr. Shaffer does," Sorrentino said. "Not many people can tell the stories that he can tell."
Love again
Shaffer met his second wife, Betty, while stranded during a snowstorm in New York City. The weather had grounded planes, and both were trying to get to Boston.
"I looked up, and I saw this man and he was frantic," Betty recalled. "I thought, 'Oh my gosh, he looks on the outside the way I feel on the inside.'"
A social worker, Betty decided to help Shaffer. They fell in love.
"We do everything together, little things, and it means so much," she said. "He just is a very open, loving person."
Betty drives him to class and picks him up.
"I want to teach as long as I live," Shaffer said.
Tanya Shaffer said the secret to her father's longevity is his spirit. He's energetic and has an open heart, she said.
"He wants to stay engaged with the world," she said. "He has never given up on the world. He has a very optimistic nature, in spite of everything."
Chancellor Robert Hemenway said Shaffer embodies the virtues of longtime KU faculty.
"You don't think about age when you think about Harry Shaffer," Hemenway said. "He has the energy and the intellectual acumen of a 30-year-old."
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Jayhawk226 (anonymous) says…
This guy has a very thick Austrian accent...I had to listen even closer just to make out everything he was saying.
He did make class very entertaining and even changed my grade a full letter grade higher.
I'd take his class again for sure!
OldEnuf2BYurDad (anonymous) says…
Yeah, great guy. I took Econ 104 from him in 1986. I thought he was in his 80's back then. No joking.
I got confused about the time/date of the econ final, and missed it. He sat me down in his office, he typed up a 4-question final for me. and I took it. A very classy thing to do for a stupid freshman.
I got a D in the class, but with me missing the final, it would have been a F for sure.
OnShakedown (Chris Tackett) says…
What a great story about a great teacher! I am *not* a math person, but when i took his course he made economics interesting, which alone is worthy of recognition. The fact he is such a great person in addition to being a great teacher is icing on the proverbial cake.
betti81 (anonymous) says…
I was just telling my co-workers about him the other day. I took his class in 2002. At first I was frustrated with his accent, but once I realized how much he knew, I just learned to sit closer and listen better. I saw him driving around once in a little red convertable. How great is that. He is one of my most memoriable professors also.
OldEnuf2BYurDad (anonymous) says…
Correction... I took that class in 1983, not 1986.
SAHM2tylrnathan (anonymous) says…
Congratulations Harry! Hope you are still riding around town with the top down!
I had zero clue about Econ when I had to take 104 for J-school in the late 80s. Probably should have paid more attention, because I don't remember much of it now either! But Harry at least made it interesting to go to class. There was always at least one person pursuing other activities in the class, and Harry made no bones about regaining his or her focus. But he always did it in a joking way that let you know you were busted and better wise up.
Funny what the brain recalls because I don't remember much about supply and demand, but I do remember my TA was Mark Erwin...
dorothyhr (Dorothy Hoyt-Reed) says…
Harry is the best professor at KU. He made Econ understandable, and his personal stories were captivating. He had some health problems and couldn't attend the last 2 weeks of our class, but managed to come to the final for awhile. When he walked in the class applauded. I never had that happen in a class, before or since. Live on Harry!
GreenEyedBlues (anonymous) says…
I LOVE this man! Congrats, Harry!
I took ECON 104 a few spring semesters ago.
I wanted to introduce him to my widowed granny.
He's adorable. He broke economics down to simple terms using his "fish hook" example. Too awesome.
bigbuzzsaw (anonymous) says…
I had the Prof. in 1992 for Econ 104. Fun class. I still remember an example he gave regarding pricing strategies for the market. He talked a about a perfume maker that made one kind of perfume and then sold half of it for $20.00 dollars a bottle and the other half for $2.00 a bottle (in different packaging) and thus captured both ends of the market with one product!
In an age where we all see each job as a stepping stone to some better job that we never seem to find after years of jumping around, I think it's great to see that a person can find his niche and be totally satisfied with his work.
robinrander (anonymous) says…
Great professor. Great books. Congrats!
kansascrone (Virginia Rigney) says…
Dr. Shaffer was an inspiration to me when I took his class as a non-traditional student. Nice to see he has the same effect on the young people.