Scope and Contents

Oral history interview with WMU alumnus Kenneth T. Beagle, conducted by James Louis on November 23, 1993. Beagle attended Western State Teachers College from 1937-1939. He was Student Council president in his senior year and was on the debate team. He worked at Willow Run plant during WWII and went on to teach and became principal at Grand Ledge.

Scope and Contents Oral history interview with Robert “Bob” Beam, Vice President for Business and Finance, conducted and recorded by Tom Coyne on November 29, 1995. Beam graduated with a business degree from Western Michigan University in 1965. He began working at WMU full-time as a senior. Bob discusses his career at WMU while working under multiple presidents, various aspects of the university’s financial history, building projects, and the changes technology has created to the administration of the...

Scope and Contents

Oral history interview with WMU alumnus Carl Botan, conducted by Tom Coyne on January 17, 1990. Carl attended Western Michigan University in the late 1960s and received his degree in communication in 1970. He discusses student activity in the anti-war movement and protests, civil rights activities, politicalism and radicalism on campus.

Scope and Contents Oral history interview with Don Boven, alumnus, former faculty member, and coach at Western Michigan University, conducted by Lew Carlson at Boven’s home in Mattawan, Michigan, May 16, 1989. Boven recollects his teammates and coaches during his time as a student athlete at WMU, playing baseball, football, and basketball. He was named First Team All-American his senior year, 1949. Boven also discusses his time as a coach, including head basketball coach, and a faculty member in the Department...

Scope and Contents Oral history interview with Dr. Milton J. Brawer, Professor of Sociology, Western Michigan University, conducted and recorded by Lew Carlson on November 17th, 1989 in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Milt describes joining the Sociology Department in 1960, being appointed the university's first ombudsman in 1970, and serving on the Faculty Senate Executive Board and WMU's chapter of the AAUP. He discusses his experiences with the certification vote in 1975, the beginning of collective bargaining for...

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Oral history interview with Chauncey Brinn, alumnus and former administrator, conducted by Lew Carlson on July 23, 1989 in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He discusses his experience working with student financial aid, minority student services units, the MLK Academy, as secretary for the Board of Trustees, and short terms as athletic director. Brinn retired in 1994 from Western Michigan University as vice president emeritus for administrative affairs.

Scope and Contents Oral history interview with WMU alumnus Tom Briscoe, conducted by Lew Carlson on May 11, 1989 in Detroit, Michigan. Briscoe recollects his youth in Detroit, playing athletics at the St. Antoine Street Branch of the YMCA, and coming to Western Michigan University where he majored in Physical Education, boxed, and played football. He talks about what it was like to be a black college student athlete at WMU in the nineteen thirties. President Waldo is remembered, as well as various faculty and...

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Oral history interview with C. Bassett Brown, first black basketball player to play for Western Michigan, which he did back in the early 1940s. Interview conducted by Lewis Carlson on August 22, 1989, in Benton Harbor, Michigan. Brown discusses attending Western Michigan College, influential professors and coaches, and playing basketball on a record-setting team. He also talks about continuing his education after graduating from Western in 1948 to become an oral and maxillofacial surgeon.

Scope and Contents

Oral history interview with Dr. Richard Burke, conducted and recorded by Sharon L. Carlson, December 7, 1993 in his office in Ellsworth Hall, Western Michigan University. Dr. Burke recounts his various positions with the university, first joining the Department of History in 1964 and teaching Western Civilization, then with the Graduate College, then Continuing Education. At the time of his retirement in 1995, he was the vice president for regional education and economic development.

Scope and Contents Oral history interview with Mary Cain (1924-2016), professor emerita of education, conducted by Lewis Carlson on January 24, 1990 in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Cain discusses the School of Education and her career there, including a program on teaching the disadvantaged and a overall discussion of general education. She also touches on the position of women in education. Cain talks about being involved in the early years of AAUP, striking in 1984, and faculty/administration relationships during...