KEVIN B. KLAUS/Arizona Summer Wildcat David Snow, a friend of the late William Bunis, displays a certificate for a tile on Legacy Lane near the McKale Center on Saturday at Bunis' memorial service at the Arizona Inn. Snow and some friends purchased the tile in honor of Bunis, who was an avid fan of Arizona athletics.

Sociology students recall inspiring teaching style

What was lost July 12, when former UA sociology professor William K. Bunis died at 49, can be measured by the notes and cards students left in the hospital while he battled a rare form of cancer.

Mark Chaves, head of the sociology department and a friend of Bunis, said despite knowing Bunis was a popular teacher; he didn't realize how deeply he connected with students until he read the get-well cards.

"Over and over again I read, 'you were the best teacher I ever had,' 'yours was the best course I ever had,' 'I became a sociology major because of you,' 'I got interested in school because of you,'" Chaves said. "Over and over and over again, that's what students wrote."

Described by those who knew him as "passionate," "irreverent," "eccentric," "devoted" and "demanding," Bunis has also been, "the best teacher ever" for many students.

"His teaching methods, as crazy as they were, were intense and effective," Chris Marcum, a recent sociology graduate, said. "Effective in not just delivering the material, but in changing people's life course."

Marcum said the first class he had with Bunis was cut short because Bunis said he had important business to attend to: going to the home of a student to collect a report promised to him.

"My first impression was - this guy is nuts," Marcum said. "But we loved him from the first day."

Schwartzman described his teaching methods, which didn't include Power Point or overheads, as "hands-on pedagogy."

"It was not uncommon for him to stop a class and run out of the classroom after a student who had left early," Schwartzman said Saturday. "It was harassment, but it was a caring harassment."

Mark Chaves, head of the sociology department, said Bunis' ability to inspire students to major in sociology was called the "Bunis effect."

"We could always tell when Bill taught the intro to sociology course," Chaves said. "There'd be a little blip up in the number of majors the next semester."

Marcum, like many of Bunis' students, became good friends with his professor, often sharing a beer or a meal together.

"He was always up for eating," Marcums said. "Even though toward the end it was sometimes hard for him."

Diagnosed with granulocytic sarcoma, or "chloroma," in the fall of 2002, Bunis taught his last class in the spring of 2003, Chaves said. But he continued to be active in the undergraduate sociology club and loved seeing the "stream of students" who poured into the hospital to visit him, leaving cookies, brownies and cards.

Chaves said Bunis was just as dedicated to his students, adding to his success as a teacher.

"I think they saw that he cared about them," Chaves said. "He was just off the scale in that regard."

In October of 2003, Bunis told the Wildcat how much he missed teaching while he was in the hospital being treated for cancer.

"Outside of my children, teaching is my lifeblood," Bunis said. "I love the UA and the students, and I miss it deeply."

Jason Gallegos, who graduated with a degree in sociology in 2003, said he remembers Bunis for his "ability to electrify the classroom with his words and presence."

Gallegos said Bunis didn't use an overhead projector to guide students along with his notes, but instead would talk to his students about one of his many passions: sociology.

Gallegos recalled the first time he went to the undergraduate sociology club. Not knowing anyone there, Gallegos said Bunis was quick to spot a new face and draw him into the group. When Bunis found out Gallegos sat in the back of his class, he insisted he move to the front of the room and visit him during office hours.

"He had an incredible devotion to each and every student," Gallegos said. "He always made time for everyone."

Gallegos said he decided to major in sociology because of the first class he took with Bunis and the contact the two maintained.

Those who knew Bunis knew he loved jazz. He left his extensive jazz collection to the UA Music Library.

"It's a very fine collection and it's supposed to be one of the best in the world," said Bob Diaz, a librarian at the Music Library.

Bob Diaz said the collection contains over 3,000 items, including the complete works of Charlie Parker, John Coltrane and Miles Davis.

"Dr. Bunis was a real jazz aficionado," Diaz said. "He collected everything he could get his hands on." Diaz said the collection is probably worth more than $20,000.

At Bunis' memorial service last Saturday, feet and fingers tapped as attendees listened to three of his favorite jazz songs in between speakers: "Stolen Moments," by the Oliver Nelson Sextet, "Round Midnight," by Thelonious Monk and "Renascence," by Edna St. Vincent Millay.

George Gobble, a political consultant and former student of Bunis who spoke at the memorial service and selected the songs, said jazz was "so important to Bill. He had an emotional tie to it and loved the cultural import of it."

Gobble was one of the many who spoke of another one of Bunis' passions: food.

Gobble said Bunis always insisted on clarifying to the concessions clerk at the movie theater "that he did not just want extra butter on his popcorn, but extra, extra butter."

"He did not consider the popcorn appropriately doused in extra butter unless the kernels could be observed swimming in it," Gobble said.

Bunis, a native of Ohio who came to the UA after getting his master's at the University of Cincinnati, began teaching as a doctorate student in the late 1980s, receiving the Distinguished Graduate Student Teaching Award in 1992.

A year later, he got his Ph.D and became a lecturer in 1996 in the sociology department.

In the department, Bunis taught courses such as Collective Behavior and Intro to Sociology. He also organized the internship program and was the adviser and "the heart and soul" of the undergraduate sociology club until he became too ill.

In honor of the professor that meant so much to so many, the university has changed the name of the Distinguished Graduate Student Teaching Award to the William K. Bunis Graduate Student Teaching Award.

Because Bunis was an avid Wildcat fan, David Snow, Bunis' former professor and longtime friend, bought a Wildcat Legacy Lane tile embedded in the walkup to Eddy Lynch Pavilion, north of McKale Center.

Snow said Bunis' personality and spirit will live on with all who knew him.

"Yeah, Bill is gone in one respect, but not in the many ways that really, really matter," said Snow.

Donations may be sent to the University of Arizona Foundation/The William K. Bunis Jazz Library Collection Fund, c/o Samuel T. Huang, P.O. Box 210055, University of Arizona Library, Tucson 85721, or to the University of Arizona Department of Sociology, William K. Bunis Graduate Student Teaching Award, P.O. Box 210027, University of Arizona, Tucson 85721.