This year marks the beginning of Dr. Louis Katzner’s 49 year of employment at the University, and he is still loving his job. While Katzner has occupied a variety of roles throughout his extensive career at the University, from professor to Vice Provost of Research to Dean of the Graduate College, teaching philosophy has always remained his true passion.

“In many disciplines, your job and the rest of your life are separate, but philosophy can be applied to everything. What I’m doing is the extent of who I am,” Katzner said, looking around his office.

Its walls, decorated with photos, serve as a display of the one thing Katzner values more than his work—family.

Katzner has been married to his wife, Linda, for more than 50 years. Together they have four children and seven grandchildren. Katzner said philosophical discussions were always encouraged in his household, especially around the dinner table. He believes the discussions played positive and influential roles in his kids’ upbringing.

Although Katzner and his wife are now very loyal to Bowling Green, where they’ve lived for many years, he acknowledged they didn’t always feel this way.

“My wife tells me that when we first moved here, she cried a lot,” Katzner said. “It was tough, being in a new place where we didn’t know anyone. But now, when I ask her where she wants to move after I retire, she tells me she’d be happy staying here. And I’d have to agree with her.”

Originally from Baltimore, Maryland, Katzner moved to Rhode Island to attend Brown University in 1958, where he received his bachelor’s degree in philosophy.

“I didn’t go in to college with much of a plan,” Katzner said. “It was during my sophomore year that I took my first philosophy class and decided to pursue it as career.”

After graduating from Brown University, Katzner attended the University of Michigan where he spent the next six years of his life earning his master’s degree, followed by his doctorate degree in philosophy. He then spent a two-year period teaching at the University of Colorado. In 1969 he accepted a teaching position at Bowling Green State University, where he’s been ever since.

As the longest serving faculty member at the University, Katzner has observed several ways in which student learning has changed over the years, and said that he’s had to adjust his teaching style to accommodate those changes.

“I’m more directive in the way that I teach now,” Katzner said. “With this generation of students I worry about shorter attention spans, which may have something to do with the amount of handheld technology they have access to.”

In the classroom, Katzner has a strict no-cellphones policy and encourages students to take notes by hand instead of electronically. He generally avoids technology outside of the classroom as well, as his hobbies include reading the works of philosophers such as Plato and John Rawls, gardening and “playing outside in the snow.”

Today, Katzner continues to teach philosophy classes and serves as Chair of the Honorary Degrees Committee. He also serves as a mentor to teaching assistants like Adrian Martinez, who is a graduate student at the University.

“As a person he can come across as strict at times, but there’s also an undercurrent of humor there,” Martinez said. “He is very definite about what he expects of his students; what he wants them to learn. He also has the most well-developed set of plans of any professor I’ve known.”

Katzner is easy to spot around campus because he wears orange just about every day, from his orange and brown hand-knitted hat made by his wife to the orange laces of his shoes.

Dr. Ian Young, a colleague of Katzner’s within the philosophy department, spoke highly of Katzner’s commitment to the University community.

“He truly lives the ‘Falcon Pride’ name tag that is on his office door. If there was ever anyone of whom it could be said that they bleed orange and brown, it would be Lou,” Young said.

Within the philosophy department, Katzner is often asked for his guidance and is well-respected by his peers.

“Lou’s wise advice is always given serious weight by both me and my fellow faculty members,” Young said. “The way he gives it is special too; it’s always very thoughtful, respectful, balanced, and well-articulated.”

As a parting gift, Katzner offered a few words of advice for today’s students.

“Cherish your beliefs, but always recognize that reasonable people might disagree with you,” Katzner said.