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Professor Emeritus C. Drew Stahl makes a point with a student
in his 8 a.m. class.
Photo: Greg Grieco
C. Drew Stahl has been teaching for five decades.
Photo: Greg Grieco
By Lisa M. Rosellini
Public Information
As Drew Stahl tells it, there's nothing remarkable about teaching for 50 years. He's just "an old guy who didn't quit working."
The professor emeritus, who teaches gratis, is still on the job and showing no signs of slowing down. For decades, Stahl has been educating petroleum engineers -- some of whom weren't even born when the oil crisis of the early '70s struck or the Trans Alaska Pipeline was completed in 1977. According to colleagues, Stahl not only has educated more than 1,500 petroleum engineers during his longstanding teaching career, but he also has been the heart and soul of Penn State's petroleum and natural gas engineering program for most of its 65-year history, even serving as department head from 1963 to 1984.
"I see absolutely no reason to quit," Stahl said. "I like what I'm doing and I'm effective at it. In fact, I think I might be more effective now that I have time to thoroughly prepare my lectures."
Stahl -- whose official retirement date was 13 years ago -- came to Penn State as a freshman in 1942 and began teaching in 1947, just two days after receiving his bachelor's degree. That was the year he started his graduate work in petroleum engineering and went on to earn a Ph.D. in 1953. It was in the '50s, that Stahl performed research that laid the groundwork for many of the techniques still used today by professionals in the field -- people who are charged with the task of extracting petroleum and gas from reservoirs deep within the Earth's crust.
Stahl teaches brain-straining formulas for predicting oil flow and expediting its recovery. In the field, it's up to Stahl's engineers to figure out how to get those reserves to a refinery to be broken down into components the average person recognizes -- substances like gasoline, kerosene, heating fuel and lubricants. Over the last half century, Stahl has touched the lives of a large number of the people who now lead the industry in companies like Texaco, Mobil, Exxon and Marathon Oil.
The veteran professor, who often waxes poetic on the art of teaching, was recently honored by some of the top professionals in the petroleum industry, all former students who returned to the University Park campus to pay tribute to a man they say took the time to not only teach them, but to help them believe in their own abilities. Those who could not attend, like Sammi Raza, wrote touching letters.
"Of all my professors and mentors, I have the greatest regard for your teaching style, understanding of fundamental concepts and communication skills," Raza, an engineer with Saudi Arabian Oil Co., in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, wrote. "I mentally pass compliments given to me on to you for having taught me so well and so thoroughly."
Another wrote, "I want to thank you for that inspiration and leadership you so graciously commanded among your students. Everything you gave us enabled each of us to become whatever we wanted."
Words like "inspiration" and "true leader" flow freely from the lips and pens of former students and colleagues in an occupation full of individuals that Stahl calls "conservative."
William Tosch, who spent 23 years in the industry, remembers when he became a "student" of Stahl's. Tosch, now a former Penn State professor, sat in on a 15-week, 400-level course taught by Stahl in preparation for his own teaching stint the next semester. Tosch said he thought he knew plenty about being a reservoir engineer, but Stahl proved different, showing the seasoned industry expert more about how "the stuff flows" than Tosch ever picked up in his 23 years on the job. Tosch recalls that one student that same semester had the audacity to ask what text would be used for the class. Stahl's brassy reply?
"Young man, I am the text. I will tell you what you need to know and that will be all you need to know about this subject."
Stahl is not shy about sharing the knowledge he possesses and proudly says the notes from his classes travel to countries all over the globe. "I've been told that their notebooks are their Bible," Stahl remarked. "Still relevant and one of the most useful things they take away from here."
But Stahl's self-assured style gives way to a gentler side, one that colleagues say benefits everyone who passes through his classroom door.
"Teaching 50 years is such a remarkable milestone," said Turgay Ertekin, professor and chairman of the petroleum and natural gas engineering program in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences.
"The most remarkable part is that he is truly concerned about the success of his students. The fact that so many of our graduates hold leadership positions in the industry proves that he is extremely successful at what he does. He is an inspiration."
Stahl, who dodges questions about his age with a cagey "Let them figure it out," said he loves teaching because, for one thing, "it's not immoral, fattening or bad for you." But mostly, Stahl said teaching is a tremendous responsibility, one he shoulders without hesitation. In fact, teaching is one of the loves of his life, in addition to Barbara, his wife of 49 years.
"You can think this sounds dumb or corny, but for me there is a certain kind of magic to teaching," Stahl said. "It is magic when you see the lights coming on and a student solves a problem. It's magic when they suddenly get it and it all makes sense.
"People may scoff or snort when someone says, 'Oh, he's a professor at the University.' But I'd say that professor is a pretty damned important guy."
Sitting in his 8 a.m. class -- a time he always requests for his sections to be held -- students, with pencils poised, don't look at all bleary-eyed. They know that to keep up with a fast-paced lecture from Stahl, complete with formulas, theories and lots of chalkboard scrawl, requires an alertness usually only possessed by hunting dogs. Still, the exchange of knowledge Stahl lives for has not yet occurred during his 10-minute spiel on water/oil ratio. The lights are not yet on. Just to get a rise, he mixes in some Latin and some Penn State facts about how the formulas they are currently using were developed at University Park.
"I hear some noises of faint breathing, but it's not too strong for a Wednesday and that concerns me," Stahl said, urging his class to dig deeper for the response he is seeking. "If you hang in there, you will come up with an equation."
Finally, a student is illuminated and gives the answer to Stahl's water/oil ratio problem. The professor smiles.
"Touching peoples lives, that's basically what you're doing," he said.
Through his 50 years of teaching, the grizzled professor has come to view the job differently. Although he has always loved teaching, he said he slowly realized that being in front of a group of young people who, "by and large believe what you are telling them, is a pretty big responsibility."
"I often tell young instructors coming in that if they want to be a success, there are two major requirements: 1) you must be totally dedicated to the institution, the college and the department; and 2) most important, you have to love the students and really care for them.
"Now some are easier to love than others," Stahl admitted. "But you have to care about each and every one. If you do these two things, it's the best job in the whole world."
Editor's note: Next week, Intercom will take a closer look at the minority enrollment numbers, which jumped 4.5 percent over the previous year.
Enrollment at the University's 24 campuses reached an all-time high of 78,956 for the 1997 fall semester, according to official figures released Wednesday. This number represents an overall increase of 1,498 students since last year.
"Last year Penn State projected a 1.5 percent to 2 percent enrollment increase for each of the next several years, and we are pleased to have remained within this target," President Graham B. Spanier, said.
The University Park campus observed the largest increase in students, with 836 more than in 1996. Enrollment this fall at University Park is also the largest ever for that location, with 40,471 students. The increase is due primarily to the continuing effect of an exceptionally large incoming class in the fall of 1995, high retention rates and increased yield rates for this fall. The yield rate is the percentage of students who accept offers of admission.
Overall enrollments increased slightly at the Commonwealth campuses. Last year, Penn State adopted a plan to slow down the growth of campus enrollments, focusing most future growth on upper-division students, primarily by retaining students who are completing their sophomore year at a Penn State campus. The implementation of this plan has resulted in stable enrollments at Penn State's Abington, Berks, Lehigh Valley and Schuylkill campuses, and increases of 275 students at Penn State Altoona, 133 at Penn State Erie and 83 at Penn State Harrisburg.
Enrollments also leveled off within the 12-campus Commonwealth College, with variations from campus to campus, (see chart on page 2). Total fall 1997 enrollment is 13,757, compared to 13,926 in fall 1996.
The College of Medicine at The Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and The Dickinson School of Law show stable enrollments. Two campuses that are scheduled for more significant growth in the future -- Great Valley and the Pennsylvania College of Technology -- are both on target with larger enrollments this fall.
"I am pleased with the quality of academic and enrollment planning shown across our campuses," Spanier said. "We have delivered on our commitments to prospective students, state officials and to the citizens of Pennsylvania."
Penn State experienced across-the-board increases in minority student enrollments this year. Total minority enrollment increased 4.5 percent this year, to 7,721 minority students now enrolled at the University -- approximately 10 percent of total enrollments. African American enrollment, in particular, increased 4.5 percent to almost 3,000 students. Hispanic enrollment at the University increased by 5.4 percent, or an additional 80 students.
At University Park, African American enrollment increased by more than 13 percent over last year and Hispanic enrollment at University Park increased by 7 percent.
