A teacher honored

A
teacher honored
Staff member remembered as actor’s favorite teacher

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BY DANA BENSON
Rice News Staff

Who’s your
Mrs. Rozek? Your favorite teacher, that is.

For “Ally
McBeal” star Peter MacNicol, it was Barbara Rozek,
his 10th-grade world history teacher, who since 1999 has
worked at Rice as an editor of the Jefferson Davis Papers.

The duo, along
with several other celebrities and their favorite teachers,
was featured in a Target advertising campaign that is appearing
in national magazines. The campaign promotes Target’s
“Take Charge of Education” program, which donates
a portion of charges made on Target credit cards to schools
of customers’ choice.

Rozek, who earned
her doctorate in history from Rice in 1995, was notified
of her selection by MacNicol last winter, and in April she
and her husband were flown to Los Angeles for a photo shoot
with the Emmy-nominated actor. She was thrilled to be reunited
with her former student, but it wasn’t that or the
star treatment she received that was the best part of the
experience.

“Of the
whole experience, the best thing was getting that phone
call telling me somebody that I taught 25 years ago thought
I was a special teacher,” Rozek said. “I just
floated on a cloud for days thinking about that. Most teachers
don’t often get that kind of praise.”

Rozek taught
MacNicol at a Dallas area high school in 1969 and ’70
when she was a “rookie” teacher fresh out of Southern
Methodist University with her master’s degree. She
later quit her teaching job when she had young children,
but once they were older she returned to teach at a Houston-area
private school and at Houston Community College.

Of teaching,
Rozek said, “There’s nothing like it. There’s
something about being in the classroom and the old cliché
about seeing the lightbulb go off in students.” She
reiterated that teachers rarely get a pat on the back from
their students, “and that’s why receiving a book
or getting a phone call or a letter from students means
so much.”

She admitted
to not watching “Ally McBeal” before learning
of her honor as MacNicol’s favorite teacher. But she
remembered her former student. He gave her a book, “Civilization”
by Kenneth Clark, before she quit when she was pregnant
with her first child.

Rozek described
MacNicol, who stars as John Cage on the hit show, as an
outgoing student who was involved in drama and debate. In
fact, she was surprised that he selected a world history
teacher as his favorite rather than a drama or debate coach.

When she met
MacNicol at the photo shoot in L.A., he mentioned several
things that made her stand out as a teacher. Rozek said
that he told her and the organizers of the advertising campaign
that “when you went into her classroom you knew you
were going to work and do things.” In some other classes,
he said, students would waste away the hour and, before
long, an entire week would go by and nothing had been learned.

“He also
said that I treated them like adults,” Rozek recounted.
“I don’t remember that. I thought of them as students,
but I felt that students should be respected and not talked
down to.”

Rozek had her
students read the newspaper everyday and bring in clippings
that related to history. She recalled that MacNicol enjoyed
that activity, and that he was never afraid to make a presentation
or raise his hand.

The two had
a chance to reminisce during the photo shoot. Rozek said
the shoot was a “really neat opportunity to make a
reconnection. He’s such a genuine, down-to-earth kind
of person that it just felt comfortable right off again.”

But the photo
shoot also gave Rozek a glimpse into celebrity life. She
had her hair and makeup professionally done, but she noted
that she wore her own outfit for the shoot, which surprised
her since there was a large wardrobe room. Photographers
took countless photos, she said, including ones of her holding
an apple, books and a ruler. But it was MacNicol who suggested
they pose with his arms around her, and that was the picture
that was ultimately selected.

Hearing the story
of why she and MacNicol were there may have influenced some
of the hair and makeup people to contact their favorite
teachers, she said.

“I was having
fun at the photo shoot telling the makeup artists and others
why I was there, and later I heard several of them saying,
‘You know, I need to write a note to my favorite teacher.’
That was another fun part of the experience, that ripple
effect,” Rozek said.

She has some
favorite teachers of her own, including John Boles, the
William P. Hobby Professor of History. Boles, who also is
the managing editor of the Journal of Southern History,
was Rozek’s adviser when she was a Rice graduate student.
She described Boles as a superb teacher and the ultimate
historian and said that he is very supportive of his graduate
students.

“He’s
caring and willing to spend time with you, encourage you
in your own interests, whatever those might be in history,”
she commented. “I came as an older graduate student
and to be supported in that type of environment was special.”

Rozek also recalled
an eighth grade science teacher who made quite an impact
on her. She said that she was “fussing and fuming”
about his latest test, and he challenged her to make out
the next one. She was very concerned about being fair, but
her teacher used the test and said it was great. “That
was one of the first times I thought that maybe I could
be a teacher,” Rozek said.

A U.S. history
professor at Valparaiso University in Indiana also left
his mark on Rozek. He made his students learn about maps
and geography, and Rozek said that is something she did
as a history teacher as well. “I cannot teach history
without maps. You have to have an understanding of where
the place is that you’re learning about.”

Rozek obviously
influenced MacNicol just as she was influenced by her former
teachers. After the photo shoot, she and her husband went
to lunch with MacNicol and his wife. They talked more about
their former relationship as teacher and student and remembered
other students, teachers and principals.

The lunch gave
Rozek the opportunity to learn more about MacNicol’s
life today. Since learning of the honor, she tuned in to
“Ally McBeal,” and she compared his television
personality to his real-life personality.

“It’s
intriguing because you’re interested with an actor
in how much of the character they play is the same as the
person. One of things he does on the show is put his hand
to his face to think for a second. And he’s a very
thoughtful kind of person in real life too.”

Rozek and MacNicol
already were featured in the August issue of Rosie and will
appear in the September issue of Oprah’s magazine.
The ads also will be featured in People and in three educational
journals: American School Board Journal, Principal and Today’s
Catholic Teacher. Some of the other celebrities that will
be featured with their favorite teachers are Allison Janney
of “West Wing,” Camryn Manheim of “The Practice”
and ice skater Tara Lipinski.