May 8, 2003
On Eve of Retirement, Culver Receives Eyes of Texas Award
By Brea Olson
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Austin, Texas -- As a capstone to a brilliant and much cherished teaching career, Joe Culver, senior lecturer in management, has been awarded the Eyes of Texas Excellence Award for spring 2003.
In a letter from the anonymous student organization that bestows the award, Culver is recognized as "a friend, mentor, counselor and father figure" to students. For Culver, who has dedicated his life to helping more than 6,500 students find their purpose, the award, given to only ten members of the campus community each semester, is especially deserved.
"My favorite quote is 'A classroom is four walls with a future inside,'" says Culver, who will retire on May 31, 2003, after 23 years of teaching and over 40 years of total service at the University. "I recognize the students I teach are the future, and I enjoy helping them as much as I can."
As supervisor of the internship program for the Department of Management, he recognizes how tough attending a university can be. "The curriculum is demanding and I like to give them help and advice on how they can create their own niche here and do well."
For Culver, the most rewarding aspects of his job come when he sees his students get their first full-time job upon graduation, and follows their success in the world. "I spend much of my time talking with students and keeping in contact with former students," says Culver. "I just love seeing them succeed."
And sometimes he is a big part of their initial success. An avid networker, Culver eagerly provides students with the names of people who can possibly provide valuable internships or their first jobs. Many times those contact names, kept in an overflowing rolodex on his desk, are former students. A poster in his office proclaims: "The Road to Success is always under construction."
He has a story to tell about most of the contacts and former students within the rolodex, and has even e-mailed Michael Dell directly to rave about a student who is now a Dell employee.
"He [Michael Dell] wrote me back that afternoon," raves Culver. "He really appreciated my comments."
Preparing for his retirement and packing up his office seem to be taking a bit more time than anticipated as he sifts through years of material. "I've just been going down memory lane as I pack," he says. "I have immense pride in these memories and in the past and future success of my students."
Culver and his wife Joan, who have been married for 50 years, are the proud parents of three, and also have two granddaughters and one grandson. His family is at the top of his list of things to dedicate time to upon his retirement, along with spending more quality summers in Copper Mountain, Colo., at the cabin he spent nearly 20 years building.
Culver is past recipient of the Texas Excellence Teaching Award, Alpha Kappa Psi Best Professor Award and the Texas Educator of the Year Award presented by the Texas Society of Human Resource Management. He is a retired Colonel in the United States Army Reserves, and received both his bachelor's and master's degree in personnel management from the UT business school. He first worked for The University of Texas System, eventually becoming director of personnel for UT Austin and then assistant vice president for development.
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