WKU Professor of Sociology Craig Taylor gave students and faculty stories to remember from the history of the Potter College of Arts and Letters.
The series is part of a larger set of events celebrating the PCAL’s 60th anniversary. It highlights WKU community members who want to share a lecture with students and faculty.
Taylor recounted PCAL’s history as he lived it. He told listeners how he came to teach at WKU 58 years ago, and what motivated him to accept a job offer at the school he now calls home.Taylor said both him and his wife, an English professor, were hired to teach at WKU.
“We got lucky that we ended up at a school where we could both teach,” Taylor said. “That was rare.”
Taylor’s history of PCAL continued with a collection of tales about him and his colleagues.
One colleague in particular, Jody Richards, holds a lot of Taylor’s respect. Taylor said he and Richards would talk about politics often, or as Richards calls it: “governance.”
Other stories included tales from the 1970s. In which openly being a hippie in Warren County “could get you ran off the road,” and battles over the validity of humanities classes instead of STEM were fought between departments.
At the conclusion of his lecture, an event organizer prompted Taylor to offer attendees one piece of advice.
“Don’t ever imagine that you can predict anything, and always be open to anything that opens itself to you,” Taylor said.
Crystal Bohlander, WKU alum and professor of sociology and criminology, highlighted how special a figure Taylor has been in her own life.
“When I was an undergrad here, he was one of my professors, and was very special to me at that time,” Bohlander said.
Bohlander also said Taylor has been “ahead of the curve” for much of his academic career. She said he’s been involved with organizations that have historically promoted inclusivity and equality at WKU.
“It feels wonderful to have had someone as an inspiration in my own life,” Bohlander said, “he was able to highlight many of those things to me as a student and open my eyes to those things in the classroom.”
