‘King Kersh,’ ‘I heart Kersh’ and ‘Kersh kicks Caboose’ are just a few of the many signs and slogans that graced Syracuse University’s Maxwell Auditorium on Thursday morning as a surprise for Associate Professor Rogan Kersh.

For his last lecture of ‘PPA755: Public Administration and Democracy,’ Kersh walked into the lecture hall to find the room full of his students in a standing ovation, holding supportive signs bearing those slogans.

Kersh looked surprised, but humbly nodded his head with thanks.

The class then took their seats and presented Kersh with a plaque, signed by each student.

Kersh, who has been an associate professor at SU since 1996, leaves the university to enter an administrative position at New York University’s Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service.

‘One more surprise at Syracuse and I think I’ll just retire,’ Kersh said jokingly. ‘Mostly though, I’m nostalgic and sad – it’s a very hard place to leave.’

The teaching assistants for the class decided the first week of the class to do something to surprise Kersh at his last lecture, said Rob Alexander, a TA for the class and doctoral student in public administration.

Alexander sent out an e-mail earlier in the week to both Kersh’s current and past students and TAs. Most of the people in the room were current students in the class, but about four of Kersh’s past students attended the lecture.

‘One of the things he’s really gonna miss is teaching,’ Alexander said. ‘(As an administrator) he probably won’t teach for a year.’

Kersh is known around campus as one of the most popular professors. The Facebook group ‘If Rogan Kersh Were On Facebook He Would Be My Friend!’ was created in honor of him.

His TAs and students attest to his popularity.

‘He’s a great speaker. He connects with the students,’ said Andrew Milstein, a former TA who has known Kersh for six years. ‘He encourages the classroom to be a creative place … he gets students impassioned.’

After the lecture, Milstein told the class of warm memories he has of Kersh, causing the class to laugh and share in the moment.

During the lecture, Kersh added in his personal touches by telling topic-relevant stories, one of which involved a meeting with former President Bill Clinton after SU’s 2003 graduation ceremony.

After the lecture, two former TAs roasted Kersh in two short speeches.

The first noted how dedicated Kersh is to his students, when someone in the crowd shouted, ‘You mean, he has no life!’

The second was given by Milstein, who told a story of how Kersh lied to Milstein’s 5-year-old son. The lie was that Kersh told Milstein’s son he could unlock car doors with ‘magic.’

After the roast, the class media team showed a photo montage of Kersh, his students and the SU faculty and staff.

Though he will be leaving SU, Kersh said he will be back often.

Published on August 23, 2006 at 12:00 pm