Prof. Pofahl retires after 40 years

Darrell Pofahl, associate professor in the department of sociology, social work and criminal justice, will retire at the end of this semester as one of the longest serving professors at Viterbo.  He started his career here in 1969 and has been teaching sociology classes ever since.          

Throughout his years here, Pofahl was well-known for teaching classes like Racial and Ethnic Groups as well as facilitating trips to Chicago to allow student to experience the diversity there. Now, after 40 years of teaching at Viterbo, Pofahl will say farewell to teaching for retirement.

Pofahl has been at Viterbo long enough to see many of the drastic changes that took place to make Viterbo the university that it is today. Pofahl said that 1969, when he came to teach right out of college, was what he called “a radical age.” 

Student leaders on campus had gone to a student government workshop and come back politicized. The students wanted a lot of changes and the sisters responded by hiring more male faculty. The students had wanted some major changes to happen on campus and the sisters wanted to balance ushering in these changes and keeping with traditions at the same time. For example, one of these changes included allowing male students to apply for admission to Viterbo a year later in 1970.

“In a way, both groups got what they wanted,” Pofahl said.  “By hiring the male layperson faculty, the sisters got the order they wanted and the students got the changes they wanted.”

There still was tension between the sisters and the layperson faculty at times, but both sides developed an appreciation for one another and really listened to one another, Pofahl said. Pofahl really came to appreciate the sisters and all that they did and do now for the university and likes the sense of community that the sisters provide at Viterbo. Even though the number of students attending is growing, the sisters try their best to make Viterbo a strong and welcoming community, Pofahl said.

Pofahl remembers spending Christmases in the Fine Arts Center lobby where the sisters held a Christmas party complete with a giant Christmas tree. All the Viterbo area kids were invited and Pofahl said that he has fond memories of watching the sisters play with the children, acting like their grandmas. 

Pofahl remembers his first time walking into Racial and Ethnic Groups, the first class he ever taught, being very different than walking into the class to teach now. The first class that Pofahl taught was an all-female class where the dress code was skirts and nylons. No girl was allowed to wear slacks to class back then.

“I was always kind of shy in front of women, so I had to adjust,” Pofahl said.