Timothy Eckert got a major surprise April 29 at the annual All-College Honors Convocation.

Mr. Eckert, a professor of chemistry, was the winner of the Distinguished Faculty Teaching Award. But he almost was a no-show for the presentation of the award, sponsored by the College’s Board of Trustees.

“It certainly was a big surprise,” Mr. Eckert says. “I had hoped to win the award in my early years, but had sort of given up.”
 
Due to a sore throat, Mr. Eckert considered not coming to campus that day, then decided to stay in his office, when Dean of the College Kurt Piepenburg sent mathematics department chair Mark Snavely to track him down.

“Normally, they’re pretty good at keeping the name a secret,” Mr. Eckert adds. “Mark said, ‘I know you’re sick, but we need you at the chapel. Something good is going to happen.’”

A committee of faculty and students choose the winner from candidates nominated by students or faculty members. Mr. Eckert is the 40th award recipient.

“If this were a popularity contest, there’s no way I’d win it,” Mr. Eckert says matter-of-factly. “I tend to make my students uncomfortable in the classroom. I’m a lousy lecturer, so I shoot a lot of questions at them. They can’t just sit back and take notes. If they let things slide they’re in trouble.”

Mr. Eckert, who specializes in teaching organic chemistry, says he tries to set high standards for his classes. Many of his students go on to pursue advanced degrees.

“Our science students always were pretty darn good,” he says, “but we have more of them now.”

Carthage’s student body has more than doubled in size during Mr. Eckert’s 18 years here. It’s the longest time he has ever stayed in one place. He moved frequently as a child, as his corporate executive father had two assignments in the Chicago area interspersed with moves to eastern states.

Mr. Eckert graduated from Yale in 1970, as part of its final all-male class. The late 1960s were a fabled time at the famous university, which became a hotbed of activism. George W. Bush, Howard Dean, Joseph Lieberman, Meryl Streep and Sigourney Weaver were among the students then, and cartoonist Garry Trudeau satirized the campus scene in the student newspaper before launching “Doonesbury.”

“It was an exciting time,” Mr. Eckert says. “Yale was breaking out of its elitist tradition, and bringing in students from diverse backgrounds.”

After his graduation, Mr. Eckert says that “I wasn’t ready for graduate school then.” He taught in England for a year, served as a VISTA volunteer and did research work for a pharmaceutical firm.

 “I liked the science, doing interesting stuff, but I didn’t have control over what I did, so I decided I needed an advanced degree,” he says.

Mr. Eckert earned his doctorate at the State University of New York-Syracuse, then did three years of post-doctoral work at the University of California-Santa Barbara. He came to Carthage after teaching at Carleton College and SUNY-Fredonia. He chose Carthage over other offers because he liked the location and the chance to teach at a smaller school.

“I’m a Midwestern boy at heart,” he says.