Fleharty, Eugene D. 2005-10-13
Eugene Fleharty shares his early experiences on the farm and his interests in chemistry and biology. Also he talks about working as a biologist and about his colleagues. Lastly he discusses the trend in modern biological science and his opinion on field biology.
General Interview Information
Interviewee Name: Eugene D. Fleharty
Additional Parties Recorded:
Date: October 13, 2005
Location:
Interviewer: David Marshall
Length: 02:06:00
Abstract
Biographical background information; Born in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania; October 16, 1934; Father was a chemistry teacher; Moved to Hastings, Nebraska at the age of 3; Family purchased a farm by the river; Had two old brothers; Childhood life in the farm; Expectations from parents; Primary interest in sports; Starting college; First interest in business; Excelled in math until he hit differential equations; Exposure to psychology; Started taking biology courses; Father died from cancer; Got the college degree in four years in two majors; Got married between junior and senior year; Graduate school; Applied for three graduate schools; Reasons to apply for University of New Mexico; Got accepted and received assistantship at UNM; Wife from Nelson, Nebraska; Arrival at Albuquerque, NM; Performance in the course of graduate program; Dr. Jim Finley; Field work in the summer; Observance of diversity of animal life; Wife’s occupation; Wife’s name is Joan; Landscape of New Mexico; Reunion with old friends back in Nebraska; His friend, Clyde Jones; Went to physical therapy school; Clyde came down to New Mexico; Trips to Guadalupe Mountains and Carlsbad; Both got hired as field assistants; Capturing chipmunks; Field trip in New Mexico; Research on bats; Interests in doctoral research; Reason to focus on snake research; Courses taken with Jim; Had the first child during master’s study; Found a job in the summer time; Foreign language courses; Special treatment of Spanish language; Five thousand dollars in 1960s; Worked in academia; Situation of the coaching staff of the football team; Lincoln, Nebraska; Helped coach football and made extra money; Biology Department of University of Nebraska; Job offer in 1972; Financial support and recruiting graduate students; Several outstanding graduate students; Tendency of sending students to Ph.D. program; Field work with graduate students; Botanical collection; Mammalogy teaching; Human ecology research; Taught human ecology in University of Kansas; Manner of thinking in biology; Question of why and how; Disagreement with Nature Conservancy; Bison and other native American animals; Further family information; Historical sites in Hasting; Uncle’s effort to put family history together; Had five brothers; Required to recognize Japanese, German and American airplanes; Father’s lifestyle as a teacher; Highly respect as high school teacher; Thoughts on teaching different group of students; Difference in teaching school in Pennsylvania and Nebraska; Geneva College’s Quaker affiliation; No preference for undergraduate and graduate; Self-identification; Got to know more about the background information of the students; Hastings athletics; Lost an eye; Could not play basketball and football; Played four years in college; Clyde’s knee problem; Undefeated in 1954; Quarterback Chuck “Spider”; Track and high jumping; Tried out in Abilene, Texas; Worked as scorekeeper; Carving experience; Inspired by wildlife painting in Kansas City in 1982; Wife’s advice of “you won’t know until you try”; Sold several carving works in the garage; Carved 700 sculptures over the years; Website of the business; Experience of hunting and fishing; Interests in outdoor activities; Multiple reasons for carving; Hunting and fishing with father-in-law; Price for the decoys; Wife’s duty at home; Other individuals David interviewed; Michael Bogan and Tony Mollhagen; Philosophical discussion with Tony; Tony’s interest in field biology; Camping trip with Tony; Mike’s personal characters; Academic performance of Mike; General changes during the period of work; Worked from 1962 to 1999; Techniques of working; Less interest in field biology of the biology department; Personal opinion on the development of biology; Best years of the school’s academic performance; Change of mentality of the students; Idealism during Vietnam War; Trend in biological studies; Mass media’s influence on biology; Urbanization’s negative effect on student interests in field biology; Movement of field biology; Tendency of the smaller schools’ preference of field biology.
Access Information
Original Recording Format:
Recording Format Notes:
Transcript: No transcript available
Thank you for your interest in this oral history interview. Our oral history collection is available to patrons in the Southwest Collection's Reading Room, located on the campus of Texas Tech University. For reading room hours, visit our website. Please contact Reference Staff at least one week prior to your visit to ensure the oral history you are interested in will be available. Due to copyright issues, duplications of our oral histories can only be made for family members. If an oral history transcript has been made available online, the link will be provided on this page. More information on accessing our oral histories is located here. Preferred citation style can be found here.
