Professor loves to learn about anything
Volumes and volumes of books line the walls of his tiny office, their subjects varying from philosophy and logic to religion and ethics.
“I am interested in everything from soup to nuts,” said Kent Robson, a professor of philosophy at Utah State University.
Philosophy, Robson said, is the love of wisdom.
“That doesn’t mean philosophers have the wisdom, it just means they are looking for it,” Robson said with a laugh.
Robson has taught just about every philosophy course offered at USU. Currently, however, he teaches ethics as well as philosophy of religion, language and history. And it’s not just philosophy majors that take his classes either.
“In one semester I probably have students from colleges all over campus,” Robson said.
From a quiet childhood on a dairy farm in rural
Plain City, Utah, Robson grew to discover great things about himself that led to huge achievements.
“When
I came to college,
I discovered that I had a brain and could think and remember,” Robson said.
After earning a bachelor’s degree from the University of Utah in philosophy, Robson applied to numerous graduate schools, including some very prestigious ones, and was accepted to them all. Stanford was his choice.
During his work at Stanford, Robson was selected for the Fulbright Scholar grant to Warsaw, Poland, which he refers to as more than just a
scholarship.
And even with such a claim, Robson doesn’t bask in the glory.
“A large number of the important professors here at USU have had Fulbright scholarships,” Robson said.
The Utah State Today Web site, utahstatetoday.
usu.edu, states, “The Fulbright Program, America’s flagship international educational exchange activity, is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Over its 57 years of existence, thousands of American faculty and professionals have studied, taught or done research abroad, and thousands of their counterparts from other countries have engaged in similar activities in the United States.
“Recipients of Fulbright Scholar awards are selected on the basis of academic or professional achievement and because they have demonstrated extraordinary leadership potential in their fields.”
Lynn Eliason, a German and Russian professor who has been a colleague of Robson’s for 35 years, said, “Not only is he a very intelligent person and knows philosophy through and through, he speaks languages … German, Russian, and Polish.”
Eliason and Robson have taken organized groups to Russian on an annual basis for more than 25 years. The trips vary from year to year by length and specific location; which consequently means that Robson and his colleague have seen everything Russia has to offer.
Robson has served on various national committees such as Utah Humanities Council, National Endowment for Humanities, and also was head of the philosophy department for 15 years. Amidst all of this, Robson continued teaching.
“He always had an open-door policy,” Eliason said. “No matter what his commitments were he would always make time for the students.
“Great teacher, great person,” Eliason said.
-jlkarras@cc.usu.edu