By Tate M. Slaven
Staff Writer
For students, Bonaventure’s campus is a temporary home. Many come for four years, and then they are gone.
More often than not, it is the professors that find their way to campus and eventually make Bonaventure their permanent home.
Patrick Panzarella, professor of English, stumbled upon St. Bonaventure University in the mid-1960s when he was looking for an opening to begin his career as an English professor. Coming from Rhode Island and being accustomed to city life, Panzarella only planned to stay for two years.
“I was geographically dislocated,” Panzarella said. “I wanted to stay for two years, get experience, and move on so I could get back to an environment I was used to — a more urban environment.”
Panzarella’s two-year stay somehow turned into 48 years.
“I went from wanting to get back to that urban life I experienced, both on the east and west coasts, to being content in the ‘somewhere in between,’” Panzarella said.
In his 48 years, Panzarella has found Bona’s is a place that encourages involvement and close relationships with students and colleagues. According to Panzarella, when he first came here he was looking for people to play tennis with, and was somehow talked into being the coach of the men’s tennis team. Nine years later he realized there was no women’s team, so he founded and coached the team for the following 21 years.
“Being the coach brought me closer to students,” Panzarella said. “Bona’s has allowed me to relate to students in and out of the classroom and that isn’t something you can get at other larger universities.”
Panzarella also found that Bona’s instilled his love for travel and also allowed him to start the summer in Italy program, through which he has successfully taken 350 students to date overseas.
“It is always rewarding to travel, but Bonaventure is such a peaceful environment that it is always nice to come back home,” Panzarella said. “This place has really cultivated my life, and it has just become less attractive to leave.”
Charles Walker, professor of psychology, also found that once he obtained his position, Bonaventure became his permanent home.
“I was 26 years old, and I needed a job, but I also needed to consider the ‘I versus we’ aspect of my decision; I had a family to include in my decision,” Walker said. “My children just so happened to love the area and my wife ended up getting a job, too, so the decision was a no-brainer.”
Much like Panzarella, Walker intended on being here temporarily, but he is still here 40 years later.
According to Walker, students and colleagues were what made it easy for him to stay. He brought his family to Bonaventure and created a second family within the university.
“Bonaventure doesn’t just use the ‘small university’ motif as a selling point — they really pursue it,” Walker stated. “Who do you know that has taken a professional family photo with his or her department? The psychology department at Bonaventure has.”
Walker also said that his love for Bona’s stems from the freedom the university has given him.
“Bona’s has allowed and helped me to extend my own personal research, and even at age 26, the department was like wet clay, it allowed me to play with it and help mold it into what we envisioned,” Walker said.
Lauren Matz, an English professor, attended Bonaventure for both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Knowing what a great place St. Bonaventure was to be a student, she figured it would be a great place to work, too.
“After I earned my Ph.D. in English, I was grateful to be hired as an assistant professor in 1988,” Matz said.
When Matz arrived on campus, only 15 percent of the SBU faculty was female. According to her, this was not an unusual imbalance in higher education, but she still felt honored.
“Now the percentage of SBU faculty who are women is over 30 percent,” Matz stated. “It is great to have welcomed so many talented women colleagues over the years.”
According to Matz, over her 25 years of teaching at Bona’s, her love for teaching has been influenced by her students. She has enjoyed getting to know them through their writing, class discussions, and visits to her office.
“Twenty-five years is starting to add up to a lifelong commitment,” Matz said.
Although life at Bona’s can be short-lived for some professors, these professionals have found a permanent home here and are devoted to helping their students become extraordinary.
“Somehow St. Bonaventure has become a place where I can’t picture myself not staying,” Panzarella said.
