Golumbically correct

Unique professor creates own method of living life

Unconventional.

Last semester Golumbic was approached by a student in his philosophy class who was concerned by his teaching style.

"I think I am unconventional, and unconventional is a bit upsetting," Golumbic replied.

Although unconventional may be an easy way to describe him, those who know him have a more difficult time coming up with a simple one-word description.

"He's very hard to describe," said Carol Connor Flowe, Golumbic's former partner at the Washington, D.C., firm of Arent, Fox, Kintner, Plotkin & Kahn. "He's without a doubt one of the most unusual human beings I have ever met."

Besides being unusual, Golumbic is also labeled as difficult.

"Difficult is putting it mildly," said Rachel Newman, editor in chief of Country Living magazine, for which Golumbic writes a bimonthly column. "His picture is under the word difficult in the dictionary."

His oldest son, Court, said his father is "a renaissance man," while his younger son, Lars, described his father as "uniquely different" and "not typical."

One of Golumbic's former students, Steve Kurutz (junior-English), compared Golumbic's ego to that of the Energizer Bunny because "it keeps going and going and going."

These descriptions alone might scare or entice anyone thinking of taking one of Golumbic's classes next semester. However, these descriptions stem from his life as a professional writer, lawyer, philosopher and most importantly, a teacher.

He can be heard from what seems to be miles away on the third floor of Boucke Building, where each Tuesday and Thursday he teaches Political Science 497B.

He calls his students by their last names. He curses from time to time without a second thought.

He grades on improvement, not percentages. And unlike most other professors, he doesn't give exams because he believes true knowledge is reflected in writing, not the bubbles on a Scantron test.

"There's nothing socially, morally or politically correct about me -- I just am," Golumbic said.

This statement seems logical coming from a man who married his wife of 33 years, Lis, just two months after they met.

This is how things are done in Golumbic's world.

But behind this bizarre personality lies a thought-provoking, humble man.

In fact, as an undergraduate at Northwestern University, the farthest thing from Golumbic's mind was law -- he dreamed of teaching philosophy at the college level.

But upon receiving a master's in philosophy from Penn State in 1960, Golumbic, a native of Lock Haven, realized the teaching profession lacked the money that had been previously missing from his life.

So he gave up his life-long dream of teaching and took a detour that lasted more than three decades.

"I thought that I wanted to make a lot of money, so I decided I would go to law school. I was interested in living a lucrative life," he said. "Now in life I think I regret (not getting a Ph.D.) in the sense that there were many things I would have liked to have done in life, but just didn't seem to have time for."

After he graduated from The Washington College of Law at American University in Washington, D.C., his career consumed most of his life.

He became a public interest lawyer, mostly for the poor, something overshadowed by his five Supreme Court appearances and over 200 trips to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

In perhaps his most significant case in the Supreme Court, Wright v. Richardson, Golumbic helped to overturn the ruling that social security was not a constitutional right.

His oldest son, Court, now a senior advisor to the Under Secretary of Treasury, even studied some of his father's cases as a law student at the University of Virginia.

"What filled me with more pride was the civil rights decisions he was involved in as a public interest lawyer, which he won't talk about because it doesn't fit into this whole persona of the conservative, grizzly old lawyer guy," Court said.

In 1976 his urge to teach briefly overcame his urge to try cases and Golumbic returned to American University to teach law full-time. Despite his love for the students and the subject, Golumbic said he "got bored."

"I decided within a two-year time period that I had to go back and practice," he said. "I was not made for anything less than living the life of a lunatic."

So Golumbic reclaimed his position in the legal world and worked for the General Counsel's Office for the District of Columbia, where he dealt mostly with pension litigation.

It was in this line of work, which required endless writing, that Golumbic said he realized he was "an excellent writer."

In 1982 Golumbic joined the firm of Arent, Fox, Kintner, Plotkin & Kahn, where, as one of the most successful partners at the firm, his average day lasted from 6:15 a.m. to as late as 10 p.m. for 13 years.

"I could never remember which one was going to Harvard and which one was going to Yale," he said with an almost wistful look in his eye.

Despite his crazy schedule, he still found time to teach writing at a nearby girls' school and to take young lawyers under his wing, helping them write briefs, which made him an automatic favorite.

However, his theory that he was an excellent writer wasn't confirmed in a world other than his own until eight years ago, when he was reunited with fellow Penn State alumna Rachel Newman.

Newman, who knew Golumbic when she was an undergraduate at Penn State, asked him to write a trial column for Country Living magazine because she knew he had experienced country life first hand.

"His sense of humor had a unique quality to it," Newman said. "It was so clever we decided to have it as a regular column."

The column, "Just a Country Boy," contains subjects ranging from Golumbic's boyhood dog, to town dances in Lemont, to his first college formal.

By reliving his past through his writing and realizing the stress caused by his job, Golumbic finally decided to pursue his dream.

"It turned out that making money wasn't so significant," Golumbic said. "I needed more balance in life."

Now, Golumbic has found that balance and is making up for lost time at Penn State.

When he made the decision to abandon the legal world for teaching, few other subjects occupied his thoughts, said Carol Connor Flowe, the woman who succeeded Golumbic at the law firm.

"He just couldn't wait," Connor Flowe said. "I think he liked practicing law a lot more than he wanted to let on, but because teaching was his first love, the idea of spending full-time doing just that was a brave thing."

"I and all of his other friends were delighted that he actually had the courage to give up what was a very, very lucrative law practice. It is nice to see somebody actually achieve their dream," he added.

After teaching writing for a short time at a small college in West Virginia, Golumbic approached Susan Welch, dean of liberal arts at Penn State, about returning to his alma mater.

Golumbic had little need to use his persuasive powers, as Welch said she was impressed by his writing for Country Living and for numerous legal journals.

"I think with Cal, he clearly has a wonderful way of relating to the students," Welch said. "There are a lot of people who have life experiences who aren't necessarily good teachers, but I think he's really an excellent teacher."

Since the fall semester of 1995, Golumbic has lived his dream, incorporating legal theatrics, his gift of speech and his love for students into each lecture, whether it is in an article writing or existentialism class.

- Cal Golumbic

His son Court said after watching his father practice law for 30 years, he never saw him as excited about law as he is about teaching.

"I was surprised it took him this long to (teach)," Court said. "He needs a captive audience. Deep down in his heart he's wanted to be a teacher for as long as I can remember. He's pretty much pissed off at the rest of the legal world, so he had to move on to somebody else."

One of those people is Steve Kurutz, who took three of Golumbic's classes, two of which were philosophy.

"Golumbic is sort of that stereotypical professor that you have in college," Kurutz said. "Through his insight . . . you think about your life. He has the ability to change your life and change the way you think."

Kurutz said he took English 215 (Introduction to Article Writing) last semester to learn more about life, not to write. Since he read some of Golumbic's columns before English 215, he knew what awaited him.

"The way he talks in class is different than the way he writes," Kurutz said. "He talks with grit. Those articles in Country Living don't have grit."

Even if Kurutz didn't take Golumbic's class for writing purposes, others did, and found they wouldn't leave his class with anything lower than a "B."

Golumbic, who never lost a case at his law firm, maintains the same attitude toward losing cases as he does towards his students' grades.

So rather than allowing his students to settle for a "C," Golumbic makes them rewrite draft after draft until he is satisfied. After all, a poor grade is a reflection on Golumbic as a teacher and would most certainly bruise his ego.

Josh Nolan, who graduated with a degree in economics last December and had Golumbic for philosophy and English courses, said he admired Golumbic for these exact qualities.

"His honesty, his lack of following political correctness definitely makes him unique," said Nolan.

Unconventional, unique or difficult. No matter what the description of his personality, Golumbic said the life he has lived prepared him for teaching. He added that teaching and being surrounded by students has added years to his life and that he looks forward to each approaching class.

"I don't know Penn State other than the students in my classes, and I'm really fortunate to be able to do this," Golumbic said. "It's a dream come true. I don't know how long I can do it, but I'll do it as long as I can."

If his students are lucky.