by Tom Galaraga
Managing Editor
A globe sits in the corner of his office with an array of colored pins marking the locations he has been, the adventures he has had and the memories he has kept close. The globe, littered with pins, however, fails to capture Rod Pyle’s witty sense of humor and unique outlook on life.
Pyle, returns to the University of La Verne this semester as a full-time professor of communications.
His experiences in high school, as a visual effects coordinator for “Star Trek,” with his work overseas on documentaries that he has produced with his “small production company,” have undoubtedly contributed to his dry wit and unique approach to teaching.
“Rod Pyle is a very conversational type professor. Instead of building a wall of ‘I’m the professor, you need to listen to me,’ he’s always willing to take the opinions of other students. He’s always willing to communicate,” said Nathan Baca, junior broadcast journalism major. “That is what makes him unique.”
“I strive to be an inspiration to all of the bad students,” Pyle said. “I went to eight colleges before I realized it was my problem, not theirs.”
Pyle attributes his own temporary decent into the world of a “bad student” to his high school experience.
“In ’72 it was incredible-the violence,” he said. “As often as not, when you went into the restrooms you would get beat up or at least harassed for money.”
Because of such typical occurrences at high school, Pyle began to skip school, only to return on the days that tests were given. While maintaining a B- average, Pyle realized that no serious learning was actually taking place and his high school was more of an institution to restrain the students for the day than it was a place to educate them.
“I remember seeing the Van Halen brothers outside in the parking lot smoking weed and saying, ‘look at those guys, they’ll never amount to anything’ Oops,” said Pyle.
Pyle described the high school security guard who always tried to keep the students from leaving the school, and how it became an adventure to outwit the security guard. Once inside your car, you were safe because the security guard thought it was too embarrassing to run after the students, said Pyle. Finally by senior year, his parents became aware that he was not attending school as often as he should.
After explaining the situation to them, his parents let him “off the hook” with the request that he finish his senior year and graduate. It was within his first month back at school that he was hit over the back of the head with a pipe.
“It was random. I bumped into some guys in the hallway and said ‘sorry.’ But he said ‘No’,” Pyle said. “Next thing I know I got up, cleared my eyes, put up my dukes and was ready, but no one was there.”
When Pyle graduated from high school, alive, he decided to attend Pasadena City College.
“I wasn’t a good high school student. That’s why I went to a junior college first,” said Pyle. “I always had an interest in academia but never got past the social issues.”
Pyle then transferred to UCLA. Compared with college standards now, Pyle said that UCLA was relatively easy to get into.
If you went to a junior college for two years, you would most likely be accepted to a University of California school, he said.
Soon he decided, however, that UCLA was not the place for him. Pyle left and bounced around from one college to the next until he landed at the Art Center in Pasadena, where he received his bachelor of arts degree in fine arts in 1983.
“It was a total of three and a half years (of school) spanned over a decade,” said Pyle.
A look at his educational track record may reveal Pyle to seem like something of a slacker. However, one should keep in mind that they do not allow slackers into Stanford University, where Pyle earned his master’s’ degree in communication research in 1995.
“Rod is a very smart guy. He really thinks deeply about issues and he is deeply concerned with the media and the impact of the media, particularly on children. He brings that passion to the class,” said fellow communications professor Don Pollock.
This semester, Pyle teaches two sections of Introduction to Mass Media and one section of Ethics in the Media.
He said he has always had an interest in the media and its effects on society.
“One of the things that spurred my interest in going into education is that I wanted to encourage people’s media awareness,” he said. “We are what we watch, and people need to know that.”
Pyle said that media literacy and media violence and its effects on children, are his passions.
In addition to teaching, Pyle also runs a small production company that makes documentaries. Last year his production company produced three documentaries, and it is currently working on “War Without Mercy,” which is an 18-year-old soldier’s perspective on war.
To film his documentary, Pyle traveled to two islands on the Pacific Rim to obtain footage of war relics. In the process, Pyle was witness to the tragic results of the United State’s presence and the effects of war
“It was quite an awakening sociologically,” said Pyle. “I wasn’t aware that happened.”
While sometimes mistaken for Pollock, Pyle retains his own outlook and views that are completely his own.
“I got stopped by an administrator the other day and was asked ‘You’re Don’s brother aren’t you?’ I said I was his nemesis, and now he leaves me alone,” Pyle said.
“I used to have a beard and he had a beard,” Pollock said. “We are both overweight, we are both white and we are both in our 40s, so people just say, ‘oh yeah, that’s you,’ or ‘that’s your brother.’ So finally I had to shave my beard to avoid people confusing us.”
It is that sense of humor, wit and camaraderie with his colleagues that help define Pyle.
While his own patchwork journey allows him to relate to a variety of students.
“He knows the heart of a student, he knows the challenges we face, he hasn’t forgotten them like some of the older professors have,” Baca said.
“The thing I value is that when I get a student that is confused, I understand,” said Pyle. “It’s kind of nice to be able to look back and have that it’s how you build character.”
