John Walkup
Emeritus, Electrical Engineering
Texas Tech University

 My freshman year at Dartmouth  (above) I was terribly homesick, missing family and close friends  back in Seattle and struggling to understand my new faith in Jesus. 

I Was Miserable

I was in a triple room in Gile Hall but rarely saw my roommates as I was in class or studying about 18 hours a day.  I might as well have slept in the library stacks and showered at the gym.  To say that my life lacked balance would be an understatement.  Frankly, I was miserable and seriously wondered if I should transfer to the University of Washington.

There were no evangelical student ministries at Dartmouth in those days. I hoped that at least one of my professors would identify himself as a believer.  None ever did.

If I had met even one professor who was open about his faith, it would have been a great encouragement to me. I was a new believer and was sorting out how to live the Christian life in a very competitive and secular environment.

I Met A Few Professors

My spiritual growth began during my graduate days at Stanford. Several pastors at a local church helped me understand the Bible, and on campus I met a few professors who were unafraid to identify themselves as followers of Christ.  One even hosted a weekly Bible study for students.  Their examples played a major role in my decision to embark upon an academic career.  I also began to live a more balanced life, with my marriage to Pat and the birth of our first two daughters providing a joy and sense of balance that more than compensated for my up and down times academically.

I was thus strongly motivated as a young professor to let my students know who I was and that, if interested, I was available to discuss the Christian faith with them.  I decided that I would take five minutes during the first class of each semester to share a bit about my background, both academic and personal, with my students.  

I Invited Them To Speak With Me

In telling them about my life and family I said that as important as electrical engineering was in my life, that it wasn’t my life goal – that it paled by comparison to my faith in Christ.  I invited them to speak to me outside of class if any of what I had said interested them. Then I went around the class, having each of the students share something about themselves. 
 
Shortly before I took early retirement from Texas Tech, a former undergraduate student stopped by while conducting job interviews for his employer. He mentioned that he could still recall that first day of class –more than 20 years earlier — when I shared that I was a follower of Christ.  He said that he was a new believer at the time, and that what I said really helped him to get his priorities straight.

His comments moved me both emotionally and spiritually, for I didn’t know until that moment that I had spiritually impacted his life in any way.  It was as if God lifted the veil a bit and showed me that my life had more impact on my students than I had ever imagined.

 
*[John Walkup is the 2008 recipient of the Nilson Award, given annually to an outstanding Christian professor. Previous recipients are listed at www.facultylinc.com/clm/nilsonaward.nsf  — Ed.]

 
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© 2008 John Walkup     Used by permission of Faculty Commons