personality profile final

Standing in front of a classroom was his life for over 35 years, but after this spring semester Dr. Gary Coll will say good-bye to teaching at UW-Oshkosh.

The Cleveland native ultimately began his career in journalism after a conversation at work while he was in college. Coll worked summers in Ohio on Pepsi trucks. One day the driver posed a question to Coll regarding the newspaper. He asked why there were never any black faces in the wedding section of the paper when a large portion of Cleveland’s population was black. Coll’s interest was sparked, and he decided to take a class in journalism at Southern Illinois University where he later would receive his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees.

“I had always thought newspapers were important,” Coll said. He spoke candidly and gave off a friendly vibe as he sat with his feet up on his desk with his hands behind his head.

He went on to finish school at Ohio University where he obtained his doctorate. Coll then decided to try his hand at teaching and came to Wisconsin. He taught for a year at UW-Eau Claire to see if he would hate standing up in front of a class. He didn’t, and he came to Oshkosh to begin his career as a teacher.

While he was in the Fox Valley area, he held down jobs at the Fond du Lac Reporter and Outlook Graphics. He enjoyed a faculty internship at the newspaper where he worked as a police beat reporter and did some job shadowing. At Outlook Graphics he worked on printing presses in the stripping department. Coll seemed passionate about his work on the printing presses. As he spoke about what he did there, he showed some examples of his work and explained in detail what a printing press does.

Coll has taught 15 courses over the years at UW-Oshkosh, but his favorites remain law, history and graphics. He remarked that his love for these classes could be traced back to two of his professors, Arthur Turnbull and Russell Baird. Coll considered these men his mentors at one time, but he also mentioned that they were helpful to him socially as well.

Over the three decades he’s been at Oshkosh, Coll has accomplished many things although he failed to name his biggest one as a teacher.

“You never really know what you accomplish because you never know what got through [to the student]," he said. “Just getting through the day is an accomplishment. But you never know it mattered until you hear back from alumni.”

Coll tries to maintain ties with students he has taught. He still speaks with alumni he taught in the 1960s.

Coll founded the Northeastern Wisconsin Scholastic Press Association (NEWSPA) while teaching. This organization was created to reach out to high school journalists in the area and get them involved. He felt that NEWSPA was a way for him to serve his community. The idea originated from his alma mater that had a similar organization called the Southern Illinois School Press Association (SISPA). NEWSPA is still in existence today, but Coll is not involved with it anymore.

In addition to starting NEWSPA while at Oshkosh, Coll achieved more recognition. He headed the journalism department from 1983 to 1989. He published two books: Mass Communication Law in Wisconsin and Graphic Communications: Applying Principles. Coll also was awarded the Distinguished Teaching Award in 2003 for his hard work throughout the years. His coworkers hold him in high regards because of these accomplishments.

“He is a wonderful coworker. He has a general interest in students,” said journalism professor Margaret Davidson who has worked with Coll for 30 years. “He is very knowledgeable, and I use him as an expert in legal matters.”

Coll laughed when questioned about his most embarrassing moment in front of a class. He said that there are a lot of those, but he said that the most embarrassing thing is when he would lose track of thought during class. His students vouch for that he does sometimes falter during class.

“He’s a lot of fun and very entertaining and detailed, but he will talk about the same thing over and over again,” senior journalism student Vickie Webb said.

“I’ve learned a lot from Dr. Coll,” said junior journalism student Diana Ziino. “I noticed he gets frustrated and than stops and goes back over what he just talked about. Sometimes he is very random.”

After this semester Coll will retire from teaching. He has no big plans for the future, but he has some ideas of what he is going to do with his free time.

“I feel that there is something still left in me,” he said. “I may have neglected some things like volunteer duties. I would like to keep going. I want to make some progress in my books and bring those up to date.”

Coll said that with his free time he also wants to spend as much time as he can with his wife.

“This is the time for us to be a couple,” he said. “Although she is trying to figure out things for me to do,” he laughed.

Coll has had a fulfilling career at UW-Oshkosh, but he is sad to leave. He said it’s hard to believe he won’t be a part of it anymore.

“It just won’t be the same,” he said.