CAZENOVIA — Recently, Dr. John Robert (Bob) Greene, the Paul J. Schupf Professor of History and Humanities at Cazenovia College, announced his upcoming retirement, effective January 2023.
Greene, who has served the institution for over 42 years, is currently the college’s longest serving faculty member.
He started at the institution in September 1979 as a part-time instructor while also serving as a manager of the campus radio station, WITC-FM.
Greene became a full-time faculty member in 1984 and was tenured in 1987.
He was named Distinguished Faculty Member in 1993, awarded the college’s first endowed chair — the Paul J. Schupf Chair in History and Humanities — in 2000, and received the college’s Distinguished Service Award in 2020.
Greene founded Cazenovia College’s social science and history majors; co-founded the dual major in history and social science with Jody Hicks, D.A., assistant professor of social sciences; and introduced the Washburn Junior Research and Teaching Fellowship Programs and the Wheler Great Lives Speaker Series.
The professor/writer is currently chair of the social and behavioral sciences division, director of the history program, co-director of the dual major in history and social science, college archivist, director of the Washburn Junior Research and Teaching Fellowship Programs, co-director of the Wheler Great Lives Speaker Series, and advisor to the Alpha Chi Honor Society.
In 2002, Greene and his family endowed the Mary Rose Greene Scholarship, which is awarded annually to an outstanding junior or senior student pursuing a degree in social sciences or history.
“Dr. Greene’s scholarly contributions and teaching have been noteworthy for the entirety of his impressive tenure,” said Cazenovia College President David Bergh in an Aug. 2 press release announcing Greene’s retirement. “His work and reputation have raised the profile of the college and he will be greatly missed.”
Greene, who is originally from Syracuse and now lives in Chittenango, earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in history from St. Bonaventure University in 1977 and 1979, respectively. He was awarded a Ph.D. in American History from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in 1983.
Greene credits one of his St. Bonaventure professors with steering him towards a career in education.
According to Greene, he was majoring in history and on a pre-law track when his professor recognized something in him that he thought “would work in a classroom.”
“He set up a student teaching gig for me at Allegany High School, and I fell in love with teaching there,” said Greene.
When he returned to Syracuse to pursue his Ph.D., a job became available at Cazenovia College, and he jumped at the opportunity to teach.
According to Greene, the most significant change to the college since his arrival has been its expansion from a women’s junior college to a four-year coeducational institution.
Cazenovia College started accepting men in fall 1983 and then transitioned from a two-year college to a four-year college in fall 1988.
“Those two decisions paved the way for other changes that would come in the 1990s, 2000s and up to today, most notably the [introduction of a] graduate program,” he said. “Those were decisions that we talked about a great deal on campus [and] thought about a great deal on campus, and those two decisions, in my view, put the college where it is today.”
Greene, who describes himself as “a teacher who writes, not a writer who teaches,” points to the connections he has made with his students as the most rewarding aspect of his career. Not only has he served as a mentor/advisor to students on campus, but he has also kept in touch with many alumni as they moved on to graduate schools and employment.
Greene said he is also especially proud of his work creating the college’s Frederic and Jean Williams Archives.
He recalled that while exploring the library around 1990, he discovered that the college’s “so-called archives” was little more than a cluttered closet.
“People had dumped photos and correspondence in boxes, and it was getting moldy,” he said. “It was a mess at the time. With the help of the librarians, I set up the archives project — now it has been going on for about 25 years — to the point where you can put your finger on any moment of Cazenovia College history and find some sort of documentation to back it up. I’m very proud of the way that project has turned out. . . It’s been a lot of work.”
According to Greene, part of that work has involved digitizing all the college’s catalogues, year books, and student newspapers, as well as much of the college’s photo file and all the material found in photos in other collections.
In his role as college archivist, Greene authored “Generations of Excellence: An illustrated history of Cazenovia Seminary and Cazenovia College, 1824 to the present.”
He also specializes in American political history, with research and writing interests in the American presidency. He has edited or written 20 books, including works on Dwight D. Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and George H. W. Bush. He has also published or presented over 150 book chapters, scholarly articles, conference lectures, and reviews.
Greene noted that he decided to major in history in college because he enjoyed studying the backgrounds and careers of powerful men and women in politics.
“As I studied those people, I began to see links to how they behaved, to how they saw politics, to how they saw history, and how political history was developing,” he said. “So, I kind of grew as a scholar from writing about presidents to writing about the presidency. I’ve always enjoyed looking at power, particularly political power, and seeing its pros and cons.”
For 17 years, Greene served as a regular panelist on WCNY’s “Ivory Tower,” a weekly round-table discussion that focuses on news and events from the perspective of academics from across Central New York. He is also frequently invited by print and broadcast media to provide his perspective on regional and national political matters.
Greene said he doesn’t know what his post-retirement life will bring, but he plans to continue to write and take on new challenges.
“Until then, I will water my roses and see what comes,” he said.
For more information on Cazenovia College, visit cazenovia.edu.