“Chet Week” and Poage Trivia

This blog was written by Mary Goolsby, Collections Services Archivist and Chet’s Scheduler

Former Congressman Chet Edwards was named the W. R. Poage Distinguished Chair of Public Service in January 2012. Over the last five-and-a-half years he has had a major impact on campus as he teaches classes, speaks to student groups, consults with faculty, and mentors students one-on-one. Chet also works with Baylor students in the Washington Internship Program when they come to DC. Chet and his wife Lea Ann (BU’84) host a “send-off” party for DC-area incoming students at their home each summer. Their sons JT (BU’18) and Garrison (BU’20) are both students at Baylor.

All of us at Poage Library feel very fortunate to work with Chet. He is willing to listen and able to discuss current events with insight and an open mind. We always make sure to schedule a lunch with Chet and the Poage student assistants. This semester was fun because it fell on the 38th birthday of the library. It is rumored that he gave his team an unfair advantage in the Mr. Poage/Poage Library trivia game. See how well you do! The answers are here.

Chet was here September 18-22 and we kept him very busy. He taught classes on religious freedom, journalism, political science, communication, leadership, and spent 2 hours via video conference with 50 graduate students at Fort Sam Houston in the Health Administration or dual Health Admin/MBA program. Chet met one-on-one to give career advice to 5 students and participated in a forum put on by the Baylor’s Public Deliberation Initiative and co-sponsored by Poage Library. To round out his week, Chet gave the keynote address at the Hector P. Garcia Banquet, this year honoring his friend Ambassador Lyndon Olson, and had lunch with President Livingstone and the Libraries Board of Advisors.

Here are just a few quotes from the week:
“Thank you so much for speaking to my class yesterday. Not only were students telling me how much they enjoyed your presentation but faculty members were telling me that students were talking about it in their classes this morning.” Truett Seminary Professor

“Thank you so much for setting up the teleconference with Chet Edwards – It was AWESOME. The students loved his insights and open discussion and as usually his comments were spot on.”

Chet will be back on campus October 14-20 and we look forward to another fast and furious “Chet Week!”

Check out an interview he did for Lariat TV.