Building a Character

PROF. CHRISTOPHER R TERRY

a feature article
by Carrie Seibel

He stands big and tall, about 6 foot 2, in the front of a large, dim lecture hall everyday; with his hands comfortably in his pockets and a distinct smirk on his face. He waits for his students to pile in at 5:30 every Monday night.

            Small conversations throughout the room add up to a ruckus. Class is now four minutes in.

            “Shut up already so we can go home.” He yells.

            He has a newborn at the house that he would like to spend time with, but rather he is obligated to lecture about media law for the next three hours.

            He is Chris Terry: former student, current UWM professor, and new father. Although he seems intimidating, he is just about the opposite.

            Terry has sat through the extended lectures before. He understands his students and expects them to do nothing but listen and engage in conversation—which is difficult and horrifying for many students.

            However, he yells not out of anger or threat, but out of a way to strategize and keep the class on their toes, and ‘entertained’ in a sense. His body shape and size own up to a booming voice that holds the focus of his students, no matter how boring the subject or how long the lecture.

            Terry lectures like he is telling a story and he speaks to the class as if he would speak to them at Axel’s Bar on Oakland, which he talks about a lot and refers to as, “the place to be on any given night.”

            Students cannot help but to listen and chuckle as he goes on for hours. They speak up and participate in an easily held discussion of what seems to be Terry’s passion: media, its history, and law. The class wraps up before you know it so Terry can head home to his family.

wonder and a whole lotta awe,

CARRIE