Paul Oehlke:  

Life For years, speech communication study, competition, teaching and coaching occupied most of my life. I earned a B.A at UW-River Falls, an M.A. at the Univ. of Illinois, and a Ph.D. at the Univ. of MN, all in Speech Communication. The highlight of my competitive career in speech was a national championship in After Dinner Speaking in 1979. I sort of 'backed into' a speech coaching career when a job came open during the summer of 1981 at Tulane University in New Orleans. My spirit of adventure and the coaching credential led me to jobs at the College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA, Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA, Creighton University, Omaha, NE, and Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. Competitive travel led to travel through many states with stops at colleges and universities almost too numerous to recall. My most rewarding experiences in academe have almost all been associated with speech competition which attracts a solid 'crew' of dedicated professionals. The beauty of having lived coast-to-coast are the memories lived in often odd and unexpected ways. Better still, is the sense of permanence and belonging to a place when I finally returned home. New Orleans has a special place in my heart. Way back when, when I was raking hay on warm June mornings, I remember singing along with and becoming entranced by Arlo Guthrie's 'City of New Orleans.' Later, at graduate school at the University of Illinois, I learned Steve Goodman wrote the song when after riding the City of New Orleans from Chicago to New Orleans. The legend is that from time-to-time, he'd stay on the train rather than getting off at Champaign where he was enrolled at the Univ. of Illinois. To me, these were coincidences that were too great, so when an opportunity arose to teach at Tulane, I jumped at what was a very one-sided, lopsided contract, that not I'd not have accepted under any other circumstance. My year in the Crescent City was a roller coaster...Expand for more