Pioneering Professors Still 'Live and Work' for Students

They were the rebels. The rabble-rousers. The pioneering professors who carved a college from squash fields and orange groves.

And they loved to teach.

In the beginnings of Cal State Northridge, a group of 40 teachers, many of them young, carefree and intolerant of bureaucracy, came together to create a different kind of school, one with strong ties between teachers and students. In fact, those first professors urged the architect not to design large lecture halls because they favored small classes.

Back then, recalled history professor Julian Nava, the college was like springtime, all green and pregnant with possibility.

"I still believe that the first staff was the strongest," Nava said. "We shared this great camaraderie because we were so excited about building something new."

Nava and biology professor Peter Bellinger are the only two of those original 40 professors who still teach at CSUN. Bellinger also remembers that hopeful time.

"That's when things really got started," he said.

Though their legacy is evident in everything from the building design to curriculum, Nava and Bellinger believe the transformation from bare-bones campus to modern institution has left behind an early, rustic charm.

But having outlived two earthquakes, several administrations and painful budget cuts, both men agree the reason they came to CSUN is the reason they'll never leave.

Quite simply, they're teachers.

Before coming to California in 1958, Bellinger was teaching biology at Yale University in Connecticut. He was invited to consider coming to what was then San Fernando Valley State College. At the time, Bellinger knew his interests centered on teaching, and was uncertain where his career at Yale was headed, since the Ivy League school emphasized research.

So he headed west and joined a biology department of just two men and one course, introductory biology. Bellinger and John Reardon designed the course for all students.

Ten years ago, another introductory course was created, but for biology majors and pre-med students. That course is more specialized--and tougher--than the basic class, and Bellinger worries it may be too intimidating for some freshmen and might discourage them from pursuing their interests in biology.

"When I came, there was one course for everybody," he said. "It was much more uniform. Then we changed that. Sometimes, I'm still not sure that was the right move."