Spring 2005
Contents:
John Ginther Celebrates 40 years at Eastern Michigan University
Nineteen fifty-six was the year that Dr. John
Ginther married his wife and began his teaching career. Forty-nine years later,
he’s still married to Barbara and is celebrating 40 years at Eastern
Michigan University. We want to celebrate, too.
To mark the occasion, colleagues, friends, and past students met at Haab’s
Restaurant in downtown Ypsilanti for dinner. Dr. Bette Warren thanked John
for making a difference in the lives of so many students over these years.
Dr. Chris Gardiner echoed the sentiment saying that it was a privilege to
work with him all of these years and hopefully many more to come.
Students will tell you that Dr. Ginther is their favorite teacher. His kind and gentle mannerisms rest any fears that even the most reluctant learner of math may hold. However, it is his interesting mathematical stories and sense of humor that students most remember.
Dr Ginther remembers growing up and talking about mathematics around the dinner table. “To me, math was an important part of our family life”, recalls Dr. Ginther. So, it probably came as no surprise to his family that John grew up and became an engineer. It didn’t take John long to figure out, that engineering was perhaps not his calling and that teaching was his real passion. “I ended up teaching high school math in the Toledo area and loved it. My plan was to settle down and teach high school mathematics”. Others that knew John well, however, encouraged him to continue his studies in graduate school. “There are often key people in our lives that open doors for us that we didn’t know were there”, says John. That door led John to the University of Illinois – where he earned his master and doctoral degrees in mathematics education and music.
There was a time when John considered a career as a symphony clarinetist. In fact, he played with the Toledo Symphony from 1953-1959. You can still see John in concert. He plays with the Toledo Symphony in the summer, the Ann Arbor Concert Band in the winter, and the Ann Arbor Civic band in the summer – about 30 to 35 performances a year. Which brings us back to the beginning of this story. John met his wife, Barb, playing clarinet in high school some 53 years ago.
If John doesn’t engage you in a conversation about mathematics or music, he’ll probably tell you about the farm with over 100 animals including cats, chickens, peacocks, ducks, geese, a horse and old English sheep dogs. “I grew up working on a farm”, says John, “so about 13 years ago when my daughter showed an interest in farming, we bought 80 acres which includes 60 acres of soy beans.” His entire family gets involved in breeding the old English sheep dogs and John will often have a picture of the new puppies in his wallet.
Dr. Ginther has authored or co-authored some 19 textbooks, written 50-60 articles, given hundreds of talks at the local, regional and national level, and has had a positive impact on a countless number of our students. Congratulations on 40 years at Eastern Michigan University!
