By Elliot Boswell
In the spring of 2008, senior Caitlin Mauer asked biology professor Becky Houck if she would be offering her Marine Biology class in the fall, and if so, at what time. Due to her ongoing illness, Houck was unsure, but told Mauer to e-mail her the rest of her prospective schedule.
When Mauer heard back from her, Houck had arranged the course around Mauer's schedule, ensuring that she would be able to take it.
"Whenever she taught a class, I took it," Mauer said. "She had so much enthusiasm and so much passion, she changed the whole course of my education."
Mauer is not alone. Houck, who passed away last Friday at the age of 59 after a two-year struggle with pancreatic cancer, had an immeasurable impact on the lives and livelihoods of her students, colleagues, family and friends.
The University community mourns the loss of someone who Portland Magazine Editor Brian Doyle called, "Inarguably one of the finest professors in the 108-year history of the University of Portland."
Houck, who is survived by her husband Jim and son C.J., first came to The Bluff in the spring of 1978 to take a position in the Biology Department, upon receiving her doctorate in zoology from the University of Hawaii.
"When I first met her, she must have absorbed some Hawaiian spirit or something because she always wore flip-flips, and this was way before they were cool," recalled biology professor Mike Snow.
At the time, Houck was the second female professor in the department, preceded only by Marlene Moore. According to Moore, the two of them shared a similar vision for the future of the program, and accordingly went about establishing such a foundation for their students.
"We were always giving each other more work to do," Moore said. "Out of our shared professional work grew a strong personal friendship. There was nothing of significance over the past 30 years that I did not discuss with her."
Over those next 30 years, Houck established a reputation as not only a leading researcher in the field of cephalopod biology, but first and foremost as a teacher, and one who was lovingly dedicated to her students.
"She got us not only to love marine biology, but science in general," said '09 graduate Hilary Ahearn, who studied abroad in Broome, Australia, with Houck. "She was so selfless - everything she did was in the best interest of her students."
According to Doyle, Houck was the driving force behind the creation of what is now known as the University's Shepard Freshman Resource Center after she noticed that many freshmen began to experience both personal and academic woes induced by the shock of college life.
The Rev. Thomas Hosinski, C.S.C., who headed the Broome program with Houck, paid testament to her seemingly endless energy in being available for all of her students.
"It wasn't until I saw her teach firsthand that I realized to what extent she mesmerized her students," Hosinski said. "It wasn't just in the classroom either - when we'd go down to the beach, she'd show everyone all the organisms in the tide pools, and she knew them all."
Houck's talent and devotion did not escape off-campus notice either.
After already being named UP Outstanding Advisor of the Year in 1992, she was awarded the Oregon Academy of Science Outstanding Professor of the Year 2000 and was named Oregon Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation in 2001.
Even after she was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer late in the summer of 2007, Houck did all she could to make sure it did not interfere with her work as a college professor.
"An hour after she received the news that she had advanced cancer, she walked into the classroom and gave another one of her captivating lectures," Moore said.
Hosinski acknowledged that while she was always realistic about what she was facing, Houck never wanted to stop doing what she loved most.
"She didn't make her decision not to teach until just this last August, and it was a tough, tough day for her," Hosinski said. "Teaching was her life."
It is not only Houck's zeal and gifts as a professor for which she is remembered, but the joy and selflessness she offered as a friend and mentor.
"She was the single most optimistic person I've ever met - just being in a room with her, you felt better," Ahearn said. "She was one of my only teachers who I felt legitimately wanted to be a part of my life and education."
Beth Rumely, secretary for the College of Arts and Sciences, recalled the lighthearted rapport between herself and Houck.
"We had this little joke where whenever she walked into the office, I'd announce her with 'Becky Hooouuuuck!' and she'd say right back, "Beth Rumelyyyyyyy!'" Rumeley said. "Every time."
According to Snow, Houck's dedication to her students was so tireless that he estimates she wrote over 100 letters of recommendation some academic years.
"She even came into the office on Christmas Eve to write one when a student had left it 'til the last minute," he said.
A few weeks before she died, Houck received word that she would be listed as the first author on a paper announcing the crescent octopus as a species unto itself. According to Doyle, it is a "beautifully apt gift" for someone who spent much of her working life with the animals, such that her informal nickname in UP biology department was "The Octopus Lady."
"It's a huge pair of shoes to fill - Becky was a force in so many areas of this University," Snow said. "She is missed by everyone she touched."
The memorial service for Dr. Becky Houck will be held at the Chapel of Christ the Teacher on Sunday, Sept. 27, at 3 p.m. As per her request, Hosinski will preside.
"She was the most beautiful person I've ever known," he said. "She was so humble and so good, she never knew how good she was."
