Friday, June 11, 2010

James McCaffrey

I was blessed at this conference to meet with my old college professor. You know that one teacher that influences and inspires you? That's who Dr. McCaffrey is to me. It started 1996.

I was in the Army at the time stationed at Schofield Barracks Hawaii. Most everyone who is enlisted in the Military Police corps says that they are going to get a degree in criminal justice. I was no different, but that is not the direction I went. My second class was Computer Science 101 at Hawaii Pacific University. Classes were held on the many military bases on the main island of Hawaii.

I remember the first day of class – I was hooked after that first program that said "What is your name?" followed by a personal greeting. Dr. McCaffrey made programming exciting. I recall learning about subroutines and variables and types. He inspired greatness. Every class was filled with engaging stories and lots of poking and Lawyers and Accountants. Every class was well-organized. Homework was graded mostly on "neatness and completeness."

He was so popular among students that people would arrive early on registration days to get a seat in his classes. I remember dragging Janel and our infant children at 2 A.M. to the Schofield Barracks library to be sure I was the first in line to get in his class :-)

I was the first in his class again yesterday. He taught an intro to Earned Value Management – yuck… he even made that subject interesting with his teaching style. I had a good visit with him and got these pictures:

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