Messenger - Vol. 2, No. 2, Page 16 Winter 1993 Jim Soles You have the opportunity as a teacher/adviser to set an example of how to conduct yourself. The dignity with which you treat people, the seriousness with which you approach your job and the enthusiasm with which you approach your job can be a little contagious. I have tried to be contagious," James R. Soles, chairperson of the Department of Political Science and International Relations, says. James Soles has indeed been contagious and in a most wonderful way. Soles was recently named the University's first Alumni Distinguished Professor, a designation recognizing his demonstrated excellence in teaching during a distinguished career. Soles was nominated for this honor by close to a dozen colleagues on the campus, and his file of support also included letters of recommendation and remembrance from former students. The file is at least two inches thick. Soles is celebrating his 25th year at the University, and, although he is chairing the Department of Political Science and International Relations, he still assigns himself to teach large introductory courses on American government. And, he still advises students-listening compassionately to their problems and pain, hearing back from them in joy and sorrow long after they have graduated. The soft-spoken gentleman from Virginia, known for the fresh carnation (usually red) that he wears each day, has invested countless hours in hundreds of students' lives. He is modest to a fault and says putting the portfolio together for his nomination was the most embarrassing thing he has ever had to do. "I am very pleased to be named to the professorship, of course, but the first selection is really symbolic," Soles said. "The most important thing is the way this recognizes people who devote themselves to teaching." Barbra F. Andrisani, former director of alumni relations, said, "Alumni are most interested in the undergraduate educational experience at the University, and the Alumni Distinguished Professorship enables exemplary undergraduate teaching to be recognized and celebrated." Soles has twice been the recipient of the University's Excellence-in-Teaching Award and, in l988, was awarded the Excellence- in-Advising Award. "Teaching is simply what I do as I understand it," Soles says. "Everyone is a teacher. We teach little children to walk and to tie their shoes. My particular niche as a teacher has been with college-age students. It has been my privilege and opportunity to work with young adults. It is an awesome task and an awesome opportunity. They are at the point where they can be taught to love learning and the excitement and satisfaction that comes from learning. "The classroom is a place for intellectual engagement. Everyone should feel free to ask whatever it is they want to ask and not be shot down. I promise my students room to venture and explore. We need to teach students to ask as well as to answer." Advising goes hand in hand with teaching, he says. "Advising is very important because students are making a lot of decisions that are just very important to them. Every crisis that can occur in life can occur to a college student. The world tends to look at college students as an elite group with no problems, and it may be that while they are in college, they are having a great deal of fun. However, they are also facing many problems and, at times, without a great deal of preparation. As an adviser, I try to help them address those problems and encourage students to recognize and grasp their potential." The implications of Soles' encouragement to students has had wide-ranging implications across the nation. His former students are active in many roles in public life. The letters in his nomination portfolio bear the letterheads of prominent law firms in several states, the Office of the Governor of the state of New Jersey, the mayor's office in Glendale, Colo., the Office of the County Counsel in Camden County, N.J., the Center for Public Integrity in Washington, D.C., and more. "It has been part of the role I play in this state to encourage other people," Soles says, modestly. That encouragement extends to people in all political parties, for Soles never lets his own political preferences be known in class. At the end of each year, most classes are equally divided in their opinion of his voter registration card. Ironically, his nomination portfolio includes a letter of support from Robert E. Chadwick, executive director of the Republican State Committee of Delaware, and one from James A. Farrell, director of the Democratic State Party Coordinated Campaign l992. Chadwick writes that Soles "literally took me under his wing. His guidance and personal attention were the key ingredients which allowed me to flourish both as a student and as a young man trying to find my way in the world." Farrell says that Soles "has played an incomparable, central role in my choice of a career. I often think that were it not for having met him, I would today be engaged in dramatically different work." The few times that there has been a majority in the annual classroom vote on whether Soles is a Republican or Democrat, a small majority have thought him Republican. He is, in fact, a Democrat and ran unsuccessfully for Congress in l974. The incumbent congressman, Pete du Pont, had the name recognition factor in his favor, Soles concedes. Yet, no politician's telephone could be busier than Soles'. An average of five constituents (alumni) call him each day. For, although he has not inspired their choice of political party, Soles has inspired their lives. There are three values that he works hard to instill in each student he teaches: human dignity, human freedom and human equality. "These are the prerequisite values for a decent society," he says. "They are three values I am not prepared to compromise on. They are necessary for the world I want to live in." -Beth Thomas