University Times

A memorial service will be held April 2 for Carl F. Poke, one of the “founding fathers” of Pitt’s Greensburg campus, who died Feb. 23, 2009. He was 75.

The service is scheduled for 4 p.m in UPG’s Mary Lou Campana Chapel and Lecture Center.

Poke was named assistant to the president, dean for Academic Affairs and instructor in political science in 1963 — UPG’s founding year — becoming the first appointment made by Pitt-Greensburg’s first president, Albert Barnes Smith Jr. According to the campus’s archives, Smith commented: “It was quickly apparent that he was the man for the job and for the next 18 years we shared the development of the campus together.”

Poke’s charge was to establish the academic mission for Pitt-Greensburg and he dedicated his life to its advancement, friends and colleagues said. He remained as dean until 1991, when he returned to teaching full time.

A Pittsburgh native, Poke earned three degrees at Pitt: a BA, cum laude, in 1955; a master’s degree in 1958, and a doctoral degree in 1968.

He began his teaching career as a graduate teaching assistant in the Department of Political Science at the Pittsburgh campus, 1956-59. He also served as a graduate teaching fellow, 1959-60.

Poke briefly left Pitt in 1960 to serve as an assistant professor in the Department of History and Social Sciences at Millersville State College.

At UPG, he taught courses in comparative government and politics, American national government and modern political theory.

Larry Whatule, associate professor of communication at UPG, said, “In addition to his administrative duties, he also taught one course per term. His feeling was that academic administrators should experience firsthand what was happening in the classroom since they make decisions that affect students’ academic lives.”

Poke was awarded the UPG President’s Medal for Distinguished Service in 2004. In the award citation, then-President Frank A. Cassell stated, “With vision, leadership and energy, you have helped this campus to become a distinguished baccalaureate institution. … During your years as an administrator and professor, the campus has become an ever more important educational resource in this region and far beyond.”

Poke retired in 2005, earning an appointment as professor emeritus of political science.

“I knew Carl as a colleague and friend for 40 years,” said Norman Scanlon, former vice president for Academic Affairs at UPG. “As the person primarily responsible for the development of the academic program in the early years of the campus, Carl had to recruit faculty and students and build a curriculum. In all of this, Carl was amazingly successful. The fact that he could get talented faculty members to commit to a campus without any real infrastructure and certainly without any amenities is a testimonial to the kind of work atmosphere and academic environment that he was able to create.”

Poke always led with a “light touch” and the best of academic instincts, Scanlon said, adding that the faculty both liked and trusted him.

“Carl was essentially a gentle man with some interesting contrasts. In some ways he was very sophisticated and cosmopolitan — with an interest in steeple chase horse racing, for example — but in some ways he exemplified the Pittsburgh culture of hard work and determination on a day-in and day-out basis,” Scanlon added. “UPG was literally his life’s work. Even in death, his presence will continue to be felt through the two endowed funds that he established for the campus,” Scanlon said, referring to the Carl F. Poke Endowment Fund for Millstein Library and the Carl A. and Florence R. Poke Endowment Fund for international student travel.

Whatule said, “Carl was literally a world traveler, most often spending his summer vacations abroad. He was a natty dresser, frequently buying clothes during these trips and bringing a Continental touch to the campus. He encouraged students to travel, and so it was fitting that he established a scholarship for students to travel and study abroad.”

Wesley Jamison, vice president for Academic Affairs at UPG, said, “Carl became a strong advocate for campus efforts to encourage global awareness and foreign travel among the students. One of his legacies to the campus will be the financial support he provided for student study abroad.”

On a personal note, Jamison said, “I always appreciated his support for my efforts as a beginning faculty member [in 1987] when he was dean and for my interest in moving to administration when he was a senior faculty member.”

Poke hired Patricia Duck as the campus library director in 1986. “He ‘stole’ me away from Hillman Library,” Duck said. “He always impressed me as being patient, cool under pressure, very thoughtful and always a gentleman — good attributes for an administrator.”

Poke was a big library booster, she said, including on occasion writing personal checks to buy videos or books he felt the library needed.

“Our favorite conversations revolved around old movies with me standing behind the library desk and him coming in to pick up a movie to show in class,” Duck said. “One day we got into a spirited conversation as to why students today couldn’t stand black and white movies, would barely tolerate them in his class. We both agreed that day that it was sacrilegious for someone to have colorized ‘Casablanca.’ He will be missed.”

Joanne J. Viano, assistant professor of French and English at Greensburg, said, “Carl was devoted, dedicated, kind and generous with his time, talents and financial support. He came to UPG primarily as an administrator. Yet, perhaps, he was always first a teacher. He believed that, in order to ‘take the pulse’ of the campus, he needed this contact with students and with his colleagues in political science. This dual role, as academician and as administrator, was at the core of Carl’s devotion to and love for UPG.”

Contributions in Poke’s memory may be made to the Carl A. and Florence R. Poke Endowment Fund for international student travel or the Carl F. Poke Endowment Fund for Millstein Library at Pitt-Greensburg.

—Peter Hart