{"id":10390,"date":"2016-04-13T14:44:26","date_gmt":"2016-04-13T20:44:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/?page_id=10390"},"modified":"2023-09-14T09:31:16","modified_gmt":"2023-09-14T15:31:16","slug":"celebrating-cc-people-professor-emeritus-william-bill-hochman","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/people-of-impact\/celebrating-cc-people-professor-emeritus-william-bill-hochman\/","title":{"rendered":"Professor Emeritus William \u201cBill\u201d Hochman"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Laurie Laker \u201912<\/b>
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\nFrom war zones to the Mountain West, Colorado College Professor Emeritus of History William \u201cBill\u201d Hochman has lived an incredibly full, fruitful, and generous life. His classes, specifically the legendary\u00a0Freedom and Authority class, helped form the backbone of CC\u2019s liberal arts education as the college grew and developed over the latter half of the last century.<\/p>\n

\"navy2\"A junior officer in the United States Navy during WWII, Hochman served in the North African campaign, as well as in the invasions of Sicily, Italy, and Normandy. When his ship was torpedoed and sunk off the Normandy coast, Hochman was rescued by the British destroyer HMS Beagle. Following his experiences in the war, he has devoted much of his life toward the cause of peace.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I came home, I was determined to do something useful with my life, perhaps to atone for the fact that I survived while so many of my shipmates perished,\u201d he reflected in the December 2012 issue<\/a> of the Colorado College Bulletin<\/em>. Returning home from the war, he decided to be a teacher. Hochman earned his master’s and doctorate degrees in American history from Columbia University, having earned his bachelor\u2019s before the war from that same institution.<\/p>\n

Curiously, Hochman\u2019s career in education didn\u2019t actually begin at CC. Initially, he taught and worked as an assistant administrator for the University of Colorado Extension Center, now UCCS, in Colorado Springs. In 1955, he found his way to Colorado College, the place that he has come to call home ever since. Joining the history faculty, Hochman\u2019s career at the college spanned more than five decades of teaching, scholarship, and groundbreaking innovation.
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\nFreedom and Authority, the class that would perhaps best define Hochman\u2019s teaching legacy at Colorado College, was first launched in 1951 as the college\u2019s first-ever interdisciplinary class. Never shy of a challenge, Hochman took the reins from a true titan of the Colorado College, Lloyd E. Worner \u201942, the popular history professor and later dean and president of the college from 1964-86.<\/p>\n

Making the class his own, Hochman pushed his students to tackle the key issues of any time; the balances and battles between individual freedom and religious, social, and political authority. Tackling these topics, at the time of McCarthyism and the Red Scare, was then a rather controversial thing for Hochman and his students to have done. It stands as testament to the forward-thinking spirit of the college as a whole, never shying away from a challenge.<\/p>\n

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Prolific both inside and outside the classroom, Hochman attended four Democratic National Conventions, the first as an alternate delegate for Adlai Stevenson in 1960. He was on the Platform Committee at the Democratic National Convention of 1964, and on the Credentials Committee at the tumultuous Chicago Convention of 1968. In 1964, he was named chair of the college\u2019s Education Department and, with the strong support of President Worner, inaugurated a teacher training program uniquely appropriate for a liberal arts college. Faculty-student relationships were at the heart of Hochman\u2019s teaching, even spilling over onto the softball diamond of the college\u2019s intramural scene \u2013 on which his talent as a pitcher was quickly recognized, and soon feared! He is particularly proud of having been instrumental in making intramural sports much more inclusive to all members of the campus community.<\/p>\n

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Peace Pin, handmade by Bill Hochman<\/p><\/div>\n

Hochman was chairman of the History Department for many years, and served a term as dean of Summer Session. His primary concern was always to strengthen the college\u2019s commitment to the liberal arts, transmitting to students the experience, wisdom and values of the precious cultural tradition we have inherited. He also taught six summers for the University of California at Berkeley.<\/p>\n

For decades, peace has been\u00a0Hochman\u2019s passion. At CC, he\u00a0taught general studies courses on how people experienced war and on the morality of warmaking. He made and gave away handmade wire peace pins during both the Vietnam and Iraq Wars. At Honors Convocation each year, he awarded a prize for the best student work on the human experience of war. Hochman\u2019s life as an activist and advocate is equal to his life as an educator \u2013 perhaps the highest commendation that could be given of his work.<\/p>\n

In 1995, after 40 years of teaching, Hochman was awarded the first-ever Gresham Riley Award for his years of continuous service, commitment, and accomplishment to the college community. Retiring in 1998, Hochman left a rarified legacy of institutional impact and cross\u2013disciplinary teaching. He returns to the college regularly, as a visitor in classes, to teach “Freedom and Authority” for Homecoming and special events, and to provide his significant voice to occasions focused on veterans\u2019 affairs and peace. Hochman continues to be a vital component of the college\u2019s past, present, and future. We are honored, and thrilled, to celebrate him here.<\/p>\n

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Photo courtesy of James Martin ’69, taken in October 2009 at the 40th reunion of the class of 1969. William Hochman is in the center. The others, all members of the class of 1969, are, from left, Tom Gould, Michael Taylor, James Martin, and the late Dean Metcalf.<\/p><\/div>\n

Professor Emeritus William \u201cBill\u201d Hochman on the Block Plan<\/h3>\n