Alumni Bulletin - Winter 2008 - (Page 30)

Story by Kurt Pﬁtzer From near and far, spanning five decades, 150 selfprofessed “Amidonians” returned to Lehigh last fall to pay tribute to David C. Amidon Jr. They celebrated his sartorial splendor, his inquisitive spirit, his encyclopedic breadth of knowledge, and his love of teaching. But The Amidonian Acclamation L ike the ethnic restaurant that boasts the best food in the city but lies hidden in an alley, the ofﬁce of Professor David C. Amidon Jr. requires uncommon persistence just to be found. From the main entrance of Chandler-Ullmann, you take a stairway down to the ﬁrst ﬂoor, make a U-turn, go right to the end of a hallway, and come to a cramped wooden staircase. Here you climb back up to the main ﬂoor, to a lone ofﬁce tucked between a large classroom and a ﬁre escape door, to Room 232, headquarters of Lehigh’s Urban Studies Program and office of Dave Amidon, the program’s director and sole professor. Over the past 42 years, thousands of Lehigh students have navigated that circuitous path. They’ve come to sign up for courses like American Ethnic Groups, Americans from Italy, American Jews: Politics and Culture. They’ve come to help grade papers or arrange ﬁles in Amidon’s overﬂowing ofﬁce, and they’ve come to seek advice on school, career, girlfriends, boyfriends, and life in general. The photographs of many of these former students and their families now crowd the bulletin boards on the walls outside Amidon’s office, with names of alumni, spouses, and children noted in Amidon’s handwriting. Amidon is 72 years old now and in failing health. He taught his last Lehigh class in December, took what the university calls a terminal sabbatical (Amidon winces at the term’s pathological finality), and will formally retire in August. During Alumni Weekend last October, 150 of Amidon’s former and current students threw him a farewell dinner party. Students 30 lehigh alumni bulletin most of all, they celebrated a man whose devotion to his students lasted long after they left Lehigh. from all ﬁve decades of his Lehigh tenure—the 1960s, ’70s, ’80s, ’90s, and ’00s—journeyed to campus to remember his dedication, to marvel at his breadth of knowledge, and to roast him for his quirks. With help from the Lehigh University Alumni Association, these self-professed “Amidonians” raised $100,000 to endow a Lehigh scholarship in Amidon’s name. T he lights have dimmed in Lamberton Hall, but the guest of honor is far from his seat. Michael Smerconish ’64, a popular Philadelphia talk-radio host and New York Times best-selling author who is serving as master of ceremonies, takes the microphone. “Just like every one of his lectures,” Smerconish jests, “Dave Amidon is late for his own retirement party. Will people please stop bothering Dave so he can sit down?” Several dozen Amidonians have pooled their talents to produce a short ﬁlm about the life and times of their former teacher. The DVD, written by Don Miles ’71 and narrated by Smerconish, is now shown as a warm-up for dinner. Dave Amidon was born in 1935 in Bloomﬁeld, N.J., heir to a “long line of Yankee preachers and teachers,” in Miles’ words. He was one of six children, all of whom became teachers. As a boy, Amidon moved with his family to the town of Lititz, a Moravian outpost in Pennsylvania Dutch country. He attended Juniata College, where, while working as a dishwasher in the student cafeteria, he met his future wife. David and Ann Amidon were married in 1957.

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Alumni Bulletin - Winter 2008

Alumni Bulletin - Winter 2008 Contents From the President's Desk Mailbox On Campus Research Arts & Culture Sports Ugly is in the Eye of the Beholder Fitch's Law of Motion A Blessing to the Community The Amidonian Acclamation China Trip Bridges Cultures, Generations From the Publisher's Desk Alumni News The Last Word

Alumni Bulletin - Winter 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.