Prof. Robt Burns

[JackJD]

Dave Kranz, political/government columnist for the SF Argus Leader, had the following to say in about retiring SDSU Prof. Robert Burns:

I never knew Bob Burns during my four years at South Dakota State University. I was more a student of the J.P. Hendrickson era. But since my time at the Argus Leader and Mitchell Daily Republic, Burns became an invaluable resource for me. Even though I was never in one of his classes, I got to know many who were. To his students, he was simply "The Master of Political Thought."

You didn't have to be in his classroom, though, to take advantage of his knowledge, his insight. In my position as a columnist, I had an opportunity to mine plenty of sources, but sometimes it is necessary to reach into the minds of political scholars who know the state inside and out and offer assessments as they see them. I got to know Burns' office phone number by heart. There wasn't a time that I can remember where he said, "I don't know." Where would have I been without his historic perspective?

Burns was honored Saturday at SDSU, putting a period on 38 years with the institution of higher learning.

Link to the column is here.

Side note: many on this message board like to kick around the hapless Stu Whitney who has also been allowed to use a keyboard at the Argus Leader's offices. What a contrast to Dave Kranz! Irrespective of whether one agrees with the viewpoint expressed by Kranz, a reader of a Kranz column will be entertained and will learn something. Kranz doesn't write just for the sake of stirring the pot and upsetting readers.

[Nidaros]

Re: Prof. Robt Burns

Dave Kranz, political/government columnist for the SF Argus Leader, had the following to say in about retiring SDSU Prof. Robert Burns:

I never knew Bob Burns during my four years at South Dakota State University. I was more a student of the J.P. Hendrickson era. But since my time at the Argus Leader and Mitchell Daily Republic, Burns became an invaluable resource for me. Even though I was never in one of his classes, I got to know many who were. To his students, he was simply "The Master of Political Thought."

You didn't have to be in his classroom, though, to take advantage of his knowledge, his insight. In my position as a columnist, I had an opportunity to mine plenty of sources, but sometimes it is necessary to reach into the minds of political scholars who know the state inside and out and offer assessments as they see them. I got to know Burns' office phone number by heart. There wasn't a time that I can remember where he said, "I don't know." Where would have I been without his historic perspective?

Burns was honored Saturday at SDSU, putting a period on 38 years with the institution of higher learning.

Link to the column is here.

Side note: many on this message board like to kick around the hapless Stu Whitney who has also been allowed to use a keyboard at the Argus Leader's offices. What a contrast to Dave Kranz! Irrespective of whether one agrees with the viewpoint expressed by Kranz, a reader of a Kranz column will be entertained and will learn something. Kranz doesn't write just for the sake of stirring the pot and upsetting readers.

Bob Burns was a guy with a pleasant smile and a fellow student in a class called Economic History of the United States taught by a great professor named Dr. Sweery. So its good to see him complete a distinguished career at SDSU. He was no doubt a much better student than I ever thought of being, but Dr Burns was very friendly and I have had a few brief conversations with him since student days.

I never met David Kranz, but like him was a student of JP Hendricksen in terms of political science professors. I also had a Professor Engberg who has not been among the living for several decades.

Whenever I lived out of state and returned for visits, it was alway an eye opener to read Kranz's column's. David has been a political pulse taker and if he writes things that are not sweet enough, then the truth is sometimes hard to digest. I dont think he has pushed an agenda or an ideology.

South Dakota has been a pretty solid GOP state since inception. As Kranz pointed out in this same column SD has had only four Democratic governors in its entire history. With out a doubt Kranz is among the best in SD in understanding voting trends.
As an SDSU alum I am very proud of both Dr. Burns and David Kranz.

I promise to lay off the hapless Stu Whitney.

[MilwaukeeJacksAlum]

Re: Prof. Robt Burns

Professor Burns was my academic advisor, professor for many of my classes and main help in winding my way through the law school application process. He and Coach Stig wrote letters of recommendation which were extremely helpful in getting me into lawschool. Anyone who took a class from Prof. Burns knew they were in for a challenge. If you ever took his Constitutional Law class you know what I'm talking about. You had to come prepared and you actually had to show up for class (novel concept for most college students). He would give a speech on the first day about how he was preparing the students for the real world which was what college was supposed to be doing. He would go on to say that he didn't know of any jobs out there that allowed for their employees to skip work whenever they felt like it and still have a job. Therefore, he allowed 2-3 unexcused absences from his class. Anything beyond that would lead to a loss of a 1/2 grade (something like that) for every absence. Given his tests and grading requirements, it was not wise to lose points by missing class. Having painted him as a no-nonsense professor, I will say that he was always available for his students. I was in his office seeking help on a couple occasions and he was always willing to drop what he was doing to make time for me. If there are better professors out there, I haven't met them. That includes my 3 years of lawschool.