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Show Retired pro fessor Larsen can't find enough time Retirement apparently is not going to help Larsen with his problem of not being able to do all the things he wants to do. "I am still fumbling to find some free time," he says after his first weeks awav from SUSC. tention span' exists for college students as well as for younger students," he points out. New methods and new pursuits are wonderful adventures for Wes. "I like a change of pace," he says. verterbrates, especially insects, and on insect life cycle development. He thinks his most significant research contribution was the development of insect tissue culture techniques. He is most proud of his ability to keep embryonic insect heart fragments alive in cultures for up to six years, which is longer than the life cycle of the insect itself. "I love teaching and seeing the successes of students. I still remember a comparative anatomy class I had in 1960," Larsen recounts. "There were nine students in the class. Now seven are medical doctors, one has a Ph. D degree, and one is a horse trainer." . Retirement holds no fears. "I feel like I have a full race, and I feel a lot of satisfaction in the academic phase of my life. Now I feel there are other races left to run." " 1 M Iff 01 CEDAR CITY - If all Things could be just the way Dr. Wesley Pratt Larsen would like them to be, he would probably be living four different lives and trying new ways and new life styles in all four. Dr. Larsen, "Wes" to all his colleagues at Southern Utah State College, is a former dean of the school of sciences at SUSC. He retired from the faculty in June after 22 years of teaching at SUSC. "I came to SUSC during a time when the college was actively recruiting Ph. D.s for the faculty. They were essentially buying my degree," Wes smiles. Then, with the quick twinkle that often pops into his eyes, he adds: "They didn't know what a bargain they were get- "There are about a million things I'd like to do." His "to do" list includes writing a new laboratory manual for use in biological science classes at SUSC; babysitting 300 new fruit trees at an orchard he owns near La Verkin; writing a number of biographies of recently retired SUSC faculty members; farming; and raising money for the Utah Shakespearean Festival. "Wes" Larsen has taught general biology to thousands of SUSC students. "Undergraduate students are my favorites," he said. "They haven't been tainted by intellectualism." Babysitting 300 new fruit trees at his orchard in La Verkin is one of Dr. Larsen's favorite activities. He plans on doing more of such now that he has retired from SUSC. Of the biographies, Larsen says: "These were and are amazing men. We are in danger of losing much of the essence of this school if we don't record and keep the stories of these people." He has already completed com-pleted a history of George W. Decker, the first biology teacher at SUSC and a grandfather of his wife, June Decker Thorley Larsen. Although Larsen spent his teaching career specializing in the biological sciences, he also has a love of history and an intense interest in aging. "I would have to say that the study of aging has to be one of the hottest areas for research in the country right now," Larsen points out. "If I were to start a new career tomorrow, I would be very interested in making that career a study of aging." "Most students like structured learning," Larsen says in explaining his teaching technique. "They want to know where they are and where they are going. I always try to let each student know where he is a grade-wise grade-wise every couple of weeks. In addition to teaching 34 years at SUSC and College of Eastern Utah, Larsen has worked two years as "a bureaucratic administrator" for the National Science Foundation in Washington, D.C.; managed and owned af bakery and restaurant in Berkely, Calif,; and served as an investigator for the Atomic Energy Commission, including a summer at Eniwetok. He has been an entomologist en-tomologist for the Del Monte Packing Company and is now director of development for the Utah Shakespearean Festival. He turned down an opportunity op-portunity to direct studies in a NASA invertibrate tissues lab on materials returned from the first moon landing. He thrives on developing and trying new ideas. "I don't think we are doing all we can to maximize Jearning-in the. classroom," he says. "For example some students can do more than one thing at a time and retain very well." To test his theory one quarter, he encouraged not just allowed students to involved themselves with other activities while he lectured. lec-tured. Larsen also believes that more peer teaching could be effective, and he has experimented successfully suc-cessfully with college students assisting troubled junior high students. A student cultural trade is an idea Wes would like to see tried. , "We could, for example exchange some inner-city students from Washington D.C., for some southern Utah students. The city students could attend SUSC, and the rural students could attend an inner city university." "That's the way we grow," he says, "by superimposing ideas that aren't always comfortable." com-fortable." Academicaly, Larsen, whose doctorate is in zoology, has worked extensively with radiation biology, i specifically in the effects of radiation on in- "I never use lecture notes, and I always bring a 'speciman of interest' to class every day. It could be a plant, an animal, a news clipping, or ! anything that has a bearing on our subject." Larsen maintains that good teaching is hard work. It is a necessity to keep current in the field, and that takes time, he says. "A good college - teacher also has to recognize that an 'at- |