Professor Mike Snow will retire after almost 40 years with the University
By Olga Mosiychuk
The Franz office of Biology Professor Michael Snow is meticulously clean, containing neat shelves of books, a very large desk and a few chairs. Amid the order stands a large, stuffed rhinoceros head.
"It isn't bone," explains Snow, as he touches the base of the rhinoceros horn. "It's actually compacted hair."
Snow is retiring at the end of this school year, on the eve of his 40th anniversary at the University of Portland. He began to teach biology at UP right out of graduate school in 1970 and has been here ever since.
"I came in when BC was still new!" said Snow. "That gives you an idea of how long I've been here."
He was a third of the Biology Department when he arrived at UP and over thirty faculty were hired in 1970. Unfortunately, due to financial troubles, the University had to fire two-thirds of the freshly-hired employees.
"It was like the Saturday Night Massacre at the end of the year," he joked. "It was kind of spooky, personally."
Snow survived the "massacre" and went on to teach dozens of biology classes and workshops. He even did three stints teaching as a part of UP's London summer abroad program.
"When you're living near the students, you get to experience their environment," he said. "You eat, sleep and breathe the stuff."
Sophomore Katie Link, who was a student in Snow's Organismal and Population Biology class last year, explained his teaching style, noting the time he passed a model of a Super Root around her class.
"The thing was huge!" she said. "I picked it up with one hand and it extended like three feet down! I've never seen anything like it."
She notes that Snow was a professor who used shocking visual examples to explain concepts.
"It was an interesting way to teach," Link said. "He always showed us something unexpected."
That explains the rhino head.
Sophomore Beth Krautscheid enjoyed Snow's biology class and even attended some of the many biology workshops he organized.
"He is such a nice professor," said Krautscheid. "I really liked his teaching style and the fact that he was so accommodating and willing to help. I will miss Dr. Snow."
During his time here, Snow has formed strong bonds with both staff and students, and still keeps in contact with many alumni.
"I got the chance to know students, to watch them grow and go on," he said. "I still exchange emails with a few of them."
Deemed the "resident botanist," Snow took part in hiring staff members and created close bonds with many of his colleagues. He remembers the late Becky Houck in particular.
"I hired her. She was a very long-term colleague and good friend," he said. "Her passing has been hard on all of us. She was one of the people who made this job much more pleasant than you can possibly imagine."
Snow will miss his colleagues, but has many plans for next year. His daughter is getting married in the spring.
Snow also hopes to travel - he would like to go to Greece.
"If there is any money left after the wedding extravaganza, I will go," said Snow with a laugh. "I feel like my retirement fund will be wiped out in one day."
He would also like to play tennis and continue to work in his garden.
In his 40 years at the University of Portland, Snow has met thousands of students and colleagues and acquired a vast amount of knowledge, all things he will not let go of when he retires at the end of this year. Snow must make one small sacrifice, however.
"I'm going to have to give up my collection of random keys," Snow said.
The assortment includes a key from a campus World War II Annex that does not even exist anymore.
He will, however, keep the rhino head.
