Wednesday, 5/21/97 Bringing history to life Professor Mortimer
Chambers enjoys spreading his enthusiasm for learning to
students
By Rachel Munoz Daily Bruin Contributor While the view from the
big window includes the Sculpture Garden and Dickson, the walls are
lined with overflowing bookshelves. A huge map of the Mediterranean
overshadows the little green boxes which house hundreds of slides.
Across another desk are more papers, books and writing utensils.
History Professor Mortimer Chambers chose this office space in 1969
for its view. Known to many simply as "Mort" and to many more as
"Professor Chambers," he conveys an enthusiasm for his involvement
at UCLA. Outside of exams, classrooms and textbooks, Chambers has
found a new way to teach the ancient history of the Greeks. For the
past three years, Chambers has taken groups of students to Greece
and Turkey through UC summer school sessions. The trip, consisting
of two weeks of touring Greece and a week-long cruise throughout
the Mediterranean and Turkey, was led by a different professor
until Chambers began in 1995. "It was natural that I would take
over the Greece trip," Chambers said. The motivation of leading up
to 40 students across the Atlantic Ocean to a foreign country comes
from Chambers’ love of the country itself. "We don’t need the money
at our age," Chambers said of the professors who do decide to take
students on these trips. "Greece attracts me. I love getting people
interested in Greece." Chambers also admits that the positive
feedback he receives from the students after the trips is
encouraging as well. Catherine Chambers believes that her husband
finds the inspiration to lead students on such a trip simply
because of his love of the country. "Introducing somebody to
something that you love is an exciting thing to do," she said.
Chambers believes that such an excursion benefits young minds. "I
think it would be for intellectual expansion" that a student would
want to travel, Chambers explained. Chambers believes that "to see
and experience something so foreign yet in Western tradition" would
be a great opportunity for a student. "Philosophy, drama and
architecture were all invented in Greece, so to see this live is
important," Chambers said. He also mentions that a trip like this
one is a "darn good deal" in academic credit. Students who do go on
the Greece trips can clearly see the enthusiasm Chambers holds for
what he is teaching. "Dr. Chambers is a man who can open up worlds
– worlds of exciting information. He can make ancient history come
alive like no professor on earth," explained Evan Seamone, a
third-year graduating sociology major. Professor Ronald Mellor,
chair of the history department and professor of ancient Roman
history, also believes that Chambers has a special way of teaching
ancient Greek history. "You really want to communicate how
important the ancient achievements are," Mellor explained. "One of
his great gifts is trying to bring history alive." Beyond the
intellectual opportunity of a summer school trip abroad is the
"sheer beauty of the landscape," according to Chambers. He finds
particular restorative powers within the Greek islands because of
the "beautiful air." "Physically, I don’t know anything like it,"
Chambers said. But by far his favorite place in Greece is Delphi,
the ancient home of the Oracle, founded on a mountainside in
central Greece. "I don’t think there could be a more beautiful
place than Delphi," Chambers said." It is so evocative of the
antique past. It has an air of romance. It brings back Greece so
vividly." One student who attended the 1996 summer trip to Greece
remembers her impression of Chambers once he had reached the top of
Delphi. "I think he is young at heart. He ran in the Olympic
stadium (at Delphi). I was so surprised. He is so energetic," said
Joy Nakagawa, a UCLA graduate. Chambers’ adoration of Greece is
apparent, but with each summer’s end, he finds his way back to the
UCLA campus and a life that he loves. "I suppose the thing I love
most is working with young and talented people – they’re the
fountain of youth," Chambers stated. At 70, his students’ youth
appears to have rubbed off on him. After an unnoticed climb of five
flights of stairs, Chambers insists that there are a lot of things
that he really enjoys about his job. "I love being paid to express
my opinions, which you cannot do in business or in most other
occupations," Chambers explains. "I’m also around highly
intelligent people from which one can learn – I admire them."
Mellor believes part of what makes Chambers so unique is the energy
he has maintained over the years. "He is enthusiastic about
teaching and that is the characteristic that comes across most,"
Mellor said. What is even more special is the constant devotion
over the years to undergraduates that Chambers has maintained,
believes Mellor. He explains that most senior historians don’t
teach very many classes, but this is not the case for Chambers. "He
is a very senior and distinguished Greek historian," Mellor
explained. "Yet he has maintained his passion for undergrad
teaching. He loves teaching very large classes." But working as a
UCLA professor is not all peaches and cream. "What I like least is
marking blue books," Chambers said. He admitted that the very first
set of blue books he ever had to correct at Harvard intrigued him
because he could look into the minds of the students, but long gone
is that thrill. Chambers began his teaching career at UCLA over 39
years ago. When his job as a professor at the University of Chicago
came to an end, he made his way to California, accepting a position
in a state in which he had never lived and with a school he knew
very little about. Chambers’ interest in ancient Greek history
began long before 1958, when he arrived at UCLA as an assistant
professor. A course in Greek history at Harvard University during
his undergraduate years sparked a love affair that would last a
lifetime. He blames Thucydides, the ancient historian, for drawing
him to his love of Greek history. "Thucydides just gripped me,"
Chambers says. Soon to be a professor, Chambers had found his
passion and he knew exactly where to take it. "I had wanted to be a
teacher since I was in high school," Chambers said, explaining how
he was inspired by a history teacher who he felt had a unique sense
of things. "Something in her said to me this woman is living in the
world of ideas. I thought right then I wanted to be a teacher." The
path that led him to becoming a teacher felt very natural, Chambers
confessed. After receiving his bachelor of arts in Latin at Harvard
University, Chambers followed with a master’s degree from Oxford
University and finished with his doctorate at Harvard University.
He then began his teaching career at Harvard. As a full-time
professor for the past 28 years, Chambers finds that his interest
of the ancient Greeks has taken his career in all different
directions. Chambers is an editor for the magazine Historia, which
he describes as the main magazine of ancient history. Chambers is
also currently revising the chapters he has written in the "Western
Experience," the textbook for History 1. There are also other
research projects in the works. But being a UCLA professor isn’t
restricted to just research and teaching. Chambers attends annual
meetings all over the country related to his field. Chambers spent
his first weekend in May in New York at a meeting concerning the
American School of Classical Studies at Athens. The American
Historical Association also holds an annual meeting which took
place in New York that Chambers attended. "I don’t go to a great
many workshops week in and week out," Chambers admitted, but there
are other devotions that he deems necessary. "There is usually
service within faculty committees. One ought to be a good soldier
and do this," he explained. "It has to be done to keep the place
running." Now his outlook on being a professor is very different.
"UCLA is a research university. The teaching load is light and it
is expected you will advance the field of knowledge," Chambers
explained. "If you can’t handle the pressure, you should go
elsewhere." However, much to his dismay, Chambers’ time as
professor is coming to a close. "I’m planning to teach one more
year and hang it up," Chambers said, "I don’t want to retire but it
has to happen sometime." But any pressure to publish has not
affected Chambers’ positive view of his career as a professor. "If
I were to come back another time, I would like to be a professor,"
Chambers said. "You have the freedom to think and speak and write."
History professor Mortimer Chambers has taught at UCLA for over 39
years, and in that time has touched the hearts of many students and
colleagues alike. Related Links: Mortimer H. Chambers Faculty
Homepage