Faculty Profile: Ron McCoy

If any expression can be used to sum up Ron McCoy’s career as a history professor at Emporia State, it can best be said, “If at first you don’t succeed, try try again.”

McCoy first interviewed at ESU in the early 1980’s. However, the position for which he applied was soon filled by someone else. His desire to teach at the university remained strong and he interviewed again a few years later. This time around, McCoy was the man for the job.

McCoy’s journey to Emporia began in Pennsylvania where he was born and lived until he was six years old. He and his family moved from Pennsylvania to California and finally to southern Arizona, where his experiences have greatly affected the rest of his life.

“The years in Nogales exerted a particularly powerful impact on me,” McCoy said. “Since life was conducted in a decidedly multicultural environment, which I believe has had a positive influence on me ever since.”

In 1907, McCoy’s father traveled west from Michigan and became a Wyoming cowboy, immersing himself in the culture of the old-time plains Native Americans as well as the other groups he saw that he felt represented the true frontier. It was this experience that greatly impacted McCoy’s own love of history.

“He saw history as a saga composed of a collection of interesting stories,” McCoy said.

After graduating from Nogales High School, McCoy went on to attend Arizona State University, where he received a bachelor of science in political science. A few years later he attended Northern Arizona University where he earned a Master’s in anthropology and a Ph.D. in history.

Becoming a teacher was an easy decision for McCoy. He was greatly influenced by the many great teachers he had through his primary and secondary education, where he was rewarded for what he knew rather than what he did not know. However, it was when he reached the university level that McCoy’s decision was finalized.

“At the university I came into contact with people who emphasized the idea of learning,” McCoy said. “By my last year at the university I was sure teaching was what I wanted to do.”

Here at ESU, McCoy teaches a variety of classes, including “US history since 1877”. He has also taught classes such as “History, Myth and Memory,” “Origins of Colonial America” and “Topics in American Indian History,” among others.

As a history professor, McCoy has come in contact with a wide variety of faculty and staff and truly values the connection that he has made with each of his students.

“If my students have latched onto two or three ideas they didn’t have at the start of the semester, well, the class has been a success,” McCoy said. “They’ve learned something. That’s connecting, where ideas float around and students grab some of them.”

McCoy’s sense of connection with his students is certainly not one-sided.

“Professor McCoy’s class was a really good experience for me,” said Amanda Lewis, freshman social sciences major. “I learned so much from him and felt a strong connection to him as well as the class as a whole. He truly is a great teacher.”

This summer, McCoy will teach an online course covering over the west, specifically the frontier. Upon the completion of the summer course, McCoy will officially be retired from ESU. In the fall, he will take up a professorship at Oklahoma State, where he will teach history and help to establish the new center for Oklahoma Studies.

McCoy will be greatly missed by the students and faculty of ESU. His passion for history and the positive impact he has on his students will be remembered by many of his co-workers for years to come.

“Dr. McCoy often turns students on to history, so people who would never think about majoring in it suddenly can’t imagine any other major,” said Deborah Gerish, history professor. “He attracts students to the discipline, which is a very good thing.”