Inspiration in the Classroom

I was born in Louisville, Kentucky to a very poor family.  My mother was from California but had moved to Kentucky with her mother to escape an abusive family situation. My mother was a young teenager when she married my father. Neither of my parents went to college and only one of my four grandparents attended high school.

My parents spent time living in both California and Kentucky and they eventually married and divorced each other twice. After their second divorce, I went with my father to Kentucky where I finished high school. After high school my mother, who was living in Modesto on Tully Road, persuaded me to come out and live near her. After working for a year at an egg processing plant, I enrolled in the Fall of 1977 at Modesto Junior College.

The education was outstanding. I was able to work for the athletic department as a work study student. The coaches were friendly. Coach Loyd and Coach Hoegh stand out as being particularly supportive and lending sound advice. There were several outstanding professors that inspired me to become a community college professor. A few that come to mind quickly are my former debate and speech coaches Steve Collins and Jim Johnson, my Astronomy Professor William Luebke, Political Science Professor Randy Siefkin, and History/Geography Professor Ted Hamilton. These outstanding teachers became a model that I wanted to aspire to copy in my career.  I graduated in 1979 with a 4.0 grade point average and transferred to Cal State Stanislaus where I received a B.A. in Political Science and my M.A. and C.Phil from U.C. Davis.

While working on my Ph.D at Davis I began teaching part-time at American River College, Delta College and returned to Modesto Junior College as an adjunct professor.  In 1998 I began working full-time as a political science professor at Merced College.  In my tenure I have had the honor of being voted Professor of the Year by our students nine times. I was also an assistant softball coach at the college for several years. Currently, I am also a part-time professor at Cal State Stanislaus in the Politics and Public Administration department.

I have been married since 1984 and have two adult children who were both high school and college competitive swimmers.

I want to thank Modesto Junior College for having such a profound impact on my life.  As someone who has taught at the community college level I have personally witnessed the transformation of so many lives.  We all have a story, thank you MJC for being such an important part of mine.

- Richard Randall, Class of 1979