Going for the beaches and mild winters

Peter Bergerson still puts a shine on government and politics, 34 years after he started teaching at Southeast Missouri State University.

Colleagues say Bergerson's as enthusiastic as ever about the subject he teaches. Bergerson's spent his entire teaching career at Southeast, the last 17 years as chairman of the political science department.

But at age 59, he's decided it's time to move on. Bergerson plans to retire next month and move to Fort Myers, Fla., and a new job as a political science professor at Florida Gulf Coast University, a 5-year-old public school with an enrollment of about 4,000. He's scheduled to start his new job on Aug. 7.

Bergerson will collect state retirement pay from Missouri while teaching in Florida. "It's such a great deal," he said.

Bergerson said he couldn't turn down the opportunity, particularly the chance to work on the Gulf Coast with its beaches and its mild winters.

"The top six reasons are November, December, January, February, March and April," Bergerson said with a smile as he sat in his office last week, explaining why he is leaving.

Southeast currently is hampered by state budget cuts and the prospect of layoffs, but Bergerson said none of that entered into his decision to take a new job.

Was stopped at Canadian border

Bergerson came to Southeast in 1968, a 25-year-old novice political science teacher whose views were forged by the idealism of President John F. Kennedy and the civil rights movement.

"That was the height of the Vietnam War. Lots of students were going to school to avoid the draft," he said.

Before coming to Southeast, Bergerson and a friend made a brief trip to Canada. They were stopped at the Canadian border because authorities suspected they might be draft dodgers. They weren't. But Bergerson said he understood why border police would suspect two college-age students.

Bergerson liked the politics and the speechmaking of Robert Kennedy. "He was one of my heroes," said Bergerson. Kennedy was assassinated in June 1968 in California while campaigning for the Democratic nomination for president.

Bergerson and a friend traveled to New York City for Kennedy's wake at St. Patrick's Cathedral.

Colleagues like political science professor Russell Renka say Bergerson knows the pitfalls of politics and government. "I don't think he is unrealistic about the dark side," said Renka.

But he's far from cynical about government. "Government can and does do a lot," said Bergerson. "Government can improve the lives of people like the poor or the elderly."

As if to underscore that point, an early poster promoting the Peace Corps hangs from a wall in Bergerson's office. The poster features the Statute of Liberty. It reads: "Make America a Better Place. Leave the Country."

'The luckiest guy'

Bergerson was one of a number of faculty hired in the late 1960s.

"There were a lot of new and young faculty. There was a real sense of camaraderie," he said.

"The day I got the job, I thought I was the luckiest guy in the world," recalled Bergerson, who received the university's Faculty Merit Award in 1989. "I still feel that way."

Bergerson has taught countless undergraduate political science courses, and graduate public administration classes. He's also helped students secure government internships from the state Capitol to the White House.

Bergerson has taught a number of students who went on to high-profile jobs.

One of his first students was Rush Limbaugh III, who ended up dropping out of college but not before getting an A in Bergerson's class. Limbaugh has gone on to become the nation's most well-known conservative radio commentator.

"He loved to talk about politics," said Bergerson, a Democrat. "Some of my best students were Republicans."

Peter Kinder, Missouri Senate president pro tem, was one of Bergerson's students, as was GOP political consultant and former Cape Girardeau city councilman David Barklage.

Kinder said he and Bergerson have different politics, but share a common curiosity about government.

"I found him quite stimulating," Kinder said. "When he speaks, you know that he is speaking from a real depth of knowledge."

Cared about his students

Former student Teresa Wildman said Bergerson cared about his students.

"He took a personal interest in anybody who was a political science major," said Wildman, who graduated from Southeast in 1995. "He was able to make every student feel like a protégé."

With Bergerson's help, Wildman interned for the late congressman Bill Emerson and former U.S. Sen. John Danforth.

After graduating in 1995, Wildman landed a White House internship. The internship turned into a two-year job in the White House, followed by other government jobs in Washington. She was chief of the productions staff for the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles in 2000 and then worked for the Gore presidential campaign.

Today, she's pursuing a graduate degree in business at Washington University in St. Louis.

Wildman said Bergerson's had a big influence on her life. "He made it seem like anything was possible for me," she said.

Bergerson's political science interests have extended beyond the classroom.

He's attended several Democratic National Conventions and presidential inaugurations and offered up public commentary on everything from presidential politics to local elections.

His job also has given him an opportunity to study and lecture abroad. He's traveled to China, Cuba, the Middle East and other places.

Bergerson met his wife, Connie, at Southeast. They raised a son and a daughter in Cape Girardeau.

"I'll miss it," he said of the university and the Cape Girardeau area.

Colleagues say Bergerson loves teaching.

"He likes students. He always has a joke to tell, politics to discuss," said Renka.

Chicago politics

Renka said Bergerson's love of politics isn't surprising. Bergerson grew up in Michigan City, Ind., bordering Lake Michigan and not far from Chicago, where politics was a pastime.

In 1962, after graduating from high school, he and a friend spent the summer interning for Chicago Mayor Richard Daley.

"We would run errands. We went to city council meetings. We were kind of part of the show. We would clap on cue," said Bergerson. "It was great theater. That's how I got interested in government and politics."

Retired speech professor Tom Harte calls Bergerson "a good friend."

"He has not become a grizzled, old grumpy professor even though he has been here long enough to be one," said Harte.

Harte co-hosts a public affairs radio show with Bergerson and history professor Dr. J. Christopher Schnell on the university's National Public Radio affiliate station. The three have hosted the show since its inception in September 1996. Harte credits Bergerson with booking most of the guests for the show.

"He's been fun to work with," said Harte. "We tease him because he likes to call himself the executive producer."

Bergerson said the Florida school has a National Public Radio television and radio station. School officials, he said, have told him he can host public affairs shows on those stations.

The Florida school will be getting a good teacher, said John Grimm, a circuit judge and former student.

"Although he leans Democratic, I think his opinions are well-respected by people all over the political spectrum," Grimm said. "He's going to be missed."

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123