Dr. Richard Oehling

Dr. Richard Oehling is exuberant as he talks of his plans for sabbatical scheduled for the spring of next year. ÒI will be researching urbanism and modernity as I design a new course for the History Department. I will be studying in London, Rome, and Berlin. I will be focusing on those cities and how life there is related to their political histories. I have an enormous interest in how painting, sculpture, and architecture all relate to history. ÒI spent the academic year of 1993 and 1994 in Rome, so IÕm returning to a city I know and love. Of course, the scope of my current study will be quite different from what I studied there in the past.

I am also very familiar with London and will enjoy working there immensely. Berlin, however, will be a new experience. I chose this city very intentionally. In many ways, Berlin is a twenty-first century city, with only the slimmest link to the past. I thought it would be very interesting to look at a city whose past was almost completely wiped out.Ó Dr. Oehling joined Assumption in 1973 as an administrator and teacher. ÒI was hired as chief academic officer and served in that capacity for 17 years. During that time I usually taught one History course per semester. I enjoyed my years as dean, but when you have had administrative duties for awhile, you receive a heightened sensation when youÕre back in the classroom. When Dr. Raymond Marion retired, I was ready to leave my position in administration and I was hired for the opening in the History department.Ó Dr. Oehling fondly remembers his first impressions of the Assumption community. ÒAfter my initial interview, I knew this was the college for me. I was called back for a second interview, and it lasted three days. One of the most revealing parts of that second interview involved the students.

A group of students actually interviewed me from 9 p.m. until midnight. I was very impressed that the students cared so much about the person who would be hired. I then spent the next several hours asking them questions. Their responses were candid. I discovered that they loved the faculty and that life at Assumption was genuinely caring and cooperative.Ó Much has changed since 1973, but Dr. Oehling contends that the nature of Assumption and its students remains firm. ÒAssumption students are friendly and eager to learn. They are among the nicest students I have ever encountered, and they are a delight to teach. I canÕt imagine doing anything else that would be as fulfilling. ÒI strive as a teacher to impart two things to them. I hope I can help develop in them a love for the past. I hope I also show them the way to think historically. I want them to always be asking questions as they delve into the backgrounds of what they read. I hope they will relate what is happening today, or what will happen tomorrow, with that which has come before.Ó