Lauds and Laurels staff achievement
For the past 28 years, John Sommerhauser, ’77, has been the calm, steady hand behind the scenes of two of UCI’s largest graduate programs – engineering and social sciences.
But had you asked the anteater alum 39 years ago if he saw himself in a career with his alma mater, he might have laughed.
The son of two world travellers, he didn’t quite see himself settling down a few miles up the road from his family’s home in Mission Viejo. His dad, a career Marine whose parents grudgingly signed an early waiver to allow the 17-year-old to serve, and his mom, a State Department employee, met while on assignment at the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan in the early 50s. They married and became proud parents on the Marine Corp’s 179th birthday. The young Sommerhauser spent his adolescent years as a “military brat,” living between Virginia, Texas, North Carolina and California.
“That kind of a lifestyle really gives you a travel bug and you can’t help but develop a sense of purpose to serve something bigger than yourself,” he says.
When it came time for college, he was keenly interested in the human development and educational psychology component of the somewhat new social ecology major at UCI near where the family – now complete with two younger sisters – had settled.
“One of the really neat things about the program was the field study component that got me off campus,” he says with a smile.
The field study took him to Newport Harbor High School’s alternative education program where he got his feet wet in an advisory capacity with alternative learners. During this time, he also met Frank Light, a faculty member in the English department who would serve as an influential mentor throughout the course of Sommerhauser’s education and early career.
As graduation approached, he felt a strong pull toward the Peace Corps, a route his mentor had also taken and wholeheartedly supported Sommerhauser in. It was the mid-70s and John was interested in returning to where his parents had met, but he also would have settled for a station in Pakistan or India, he says. Political situations being what they were at the time, he was instead one of two volunteers selected for the Corp’s first ever assignment in Tuvalu. The tiny Polynesian country located halfway between Hawaii and Australia due north of Fiji was preparing for its independence from Great Britain and looking for aide in developing its infrastructure. Sommerhauser, who’d been involved with college radio while at UCI, was selected to spend two years working as a broadcast advisor in the island nation where he trained broadcasters and journalists in reporting, news writing, and radio program planning and production.
He became fluent in Tuvaluan, a somewhat obscure language he still understands today.
When his two-year assignment was up, Sommerhauser stayed in the Polynesian region, working as an instructional design developer and coordinator with the University of the South Pacific in Fiji for five years. The role allowed him to be at the ground level of a distance education program in the pre-internet days that spanned 11 member countries spread across an expanse of open water roughly the size of the continental United States. This meant he got to travel quite a bit helping to establish satellite ground terminals for the print, audio and slow scan course delivery in the South Pacific.
“It was fascinating work, seeing how education could be accessible to people in remote areas,” he said. “It was a really forward thinking thing for the country to be doing in order to avoid the brain drain that was happening as young people went off to universities elsewhere and never returned.”
Thinking he’d found his passion and career track, Sommerhauser decided to go back to graduate school for more training. He returned to the U.S. in a flexible program at Michigan State that allowed him to work concurrently in Adult Learning Services, gaining valuable experience with non-traditional students. But partway through, the University of the South Pacific came calling again, and it was something that he just couldn’t refuse.
He packed his bags again and headed back to the islands, but this time, things were different.
“The political situation in the region was changing rapidly and the economic and social structure in Fiji was being damaged severely in the process,” he says.
When it became apparent after a year that it wasn’t going to change, he decided not to renew his contract and came back to Orange County.
“UCI was just beginning to become an internationally recognized place for graduate study, and engineering was looking for someone with higher ed and international student experience,” he says. While he fit the bill, he says he was a little apprehensive about filling the shoes of a staff member who’d previously been in the role for 17 years.
“You worry coming into a job where others have basically made the position their own, that you won’t live up to expectations,” he says.
He immersed himself back into the university, learning everything there was to know about policies, procedures and life as a graduate student and he quickly became the go-to-guy for all things grad-related. And when he took his talents to a similar role in social sciences 14 years later, he also followed on the heels of a long-time staff member for whom the school now has a named fellowship
“Fortunately for us, but unfortunately for him and his ability to get his own work done – John is one of the go-to people in the school with almost any random question about the operation of the university – and that’s not just limited to the graduate program,” says Mark Petracca, social sciences associate dean of undergraduate studies and political science professor.
“You can always count on John to know the answer whenever there’s a question about requirements or how best to handle student issues,” says Susan Earle-Carlin, UCI’s Test of Oral English Proficiency coordinator. Sommerhauser is the longest standing member of their grading committee – and he helped pilot the exam before it launched in 2000.
In nearly three decades with the campus, Sommerhauser has worked under four permanent deans, five assistant deans, close to a dozen associate deans, and too many departmental graduate program faculty to count. Dealing in everything from small and mundane administrative tasks to the large and seemingly insurmountable issues that future faculty can encounter on their treks to a Ph.D., his friendly, accessible demeanor and consistent open door policy creates a culture within the school that genuinely supports student success.
“John is the nerve center and support center for the nearly 400 master’s and Ph.D. students in the school – and he knows each one of them by name,” says Bill Maurer, social sciences dean and anthropology professor. “This is the most amazing thing about John. He knows where they come from, and he knows their plans for the future. He helps them navigate graduate policies and procedures, but also the occasional pitfalls of graduate training and the set-backs and challenges students face just by living their lives.”
“If you’ve never met John, you need to know that he has one of those classic NPR radio announcer voices – calm, measured, reassuring. And it’s not an act.”
Kourosh Saberi, the school’s current associate dean of graduate studies agrees: “John treats students with a level of tenderness expected from a caring parent. I’ve seen students walk into his office literally in tears, having exhausted other options and clearly under stress, either academic or personal. They walk out with a smile, being convinced that he’ll do all that is in his power to resolve their problem, and of course he always follows through on their behalf for as long as it takes until a resolution is reached.”
And when word spread among graduate students past and present that he was being nominated for the UCI Alumni Association Lauds & Laurels Staff Achievement award, letters of support from campus administrators, faculty, staff, students and alumni came pouring in.
“He really creates the positive support network that young academics need to develop as confident, empowered and fully formed individuals – with a strong sense of self that carries us forward through our future challenges,” says Amber Tierney, a current sociology Ph.D. student.
Extending far beyond academic expertise in all things grad-related, he’s seen as a trusted, respected and fair voice to whom students can turn during what can be an exceptionally stressful time in their academic careers.
“He provides the intangible and unquantifiable elements of the academic experience that, in the end make the difference between a student who merely finishes the degree and one who actually enjoys the journey and leave the university a well-rounded scholar,” Tierney adds.
“I’ve been able to dedicate more of my time and efforts strictly to my academic development because John has facilitated so many other academic and personal concerns that while not directly relating to my immediate research, are nonetheless cornerstone to it,” says Alma Nidia Garza, who has sought Sommerhauser’s ear on fellowships processes, program policies and personal matters as a graduate student in social sciences.
“When I casually mention to other graduate students in my department how much I appreciate having him as the director of our graduate affairs office, I’m stunned to learn that their experiences with John are almost identical to mine. It’s then that I realize John is not simply fulfilling the responsibilities of his job; he genuinely seeks to use every ounce of his abilities, resources and power to help students in all aspects of their lives.”
Playing such a large role in shaping graduate students’ lives is, for Sommerhauser, the most rewarding part of the job.
“These opportunities come along – where you realize the significant role that you’re able to play in people’s lives in helping them along the way in their academic and overall life goals, sometimes in ways that you don’t realize until well after the fact – these are what make the job so great,” he says. He’ll often get calls from a former student starting the conversation with: “You may not remember me.” But Sommerhauser’s response is usually: “Of course I remember you – it wasn’t that long ago that you were here.”
While the explosive growth of the university and the school’s graduate programs has made the personal, human touch a bit more challenging, Sommerhauser’s reach hasn’t waivered. He can often be found in his office well after hours and many times through the weekend responding to emails, phone calls and student walk ins.
“I reached out to John on many occasions for help with issues ranging from the simple, like ordering business cards, to the complex, like selecting my dissertation committee, and I was consistently impressed by how quickly he responded to emails – usually within a couple of hours and sometimes within a few minutes,” says Mark Berlin, an alumnus of the political science Ph.D. program and now an assistant professor at Marquette University. “In addition to his responsiveness online, John’s office door was always open. I showed up without notice countless times to ask him questions about paperwork or policies, and he was always there, happy and eager to assist.”
In 2012, Sommerhauser was honored with UCI’s first recognition of a long-time commencement volunteer at what was then his 25th consecutive ceremony.
Barbara Johnson, who was then the commencement coordinator and has since retired, noted his dedication to students at the surprise award announcement. “He’s always helpful and looking out for the best interests of students,” she said. “One year, he was moving to his new home in Riverside, but he put his graduates and his school ahead of his own responsibilities that day. What a great opportunity to recognize volunteerism!”
He’s since racked up three more ceremonies as a volunteer and will celebrate his 29th at the 2016 events (that’s not counting his own which took place 39 years back).
But that’s Sommerhauser. Attention for all of this isn’t something he seeks; to him, it’s all just part of doing a good job, something he plans to continue doing for the foreseeable future at the university he’s always called home.
-Heather Ashbach, UCI School of Social Sciences
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