Faculty Profile:
Tom Reck

Faculty Reflection

Opportunities for Giving

Campus Collage

Helping To Make CSU, Chico Better

TOM RECK
Professor Department of English

If you are brave enough to cross the yellow police tape belting the office door and can recover from the initial shock of the walls plastered in movie posters and the rubber chicken hanging from the rafters, you'll discover the intriguing realm of Tom Reck.

A professor in the English Department at CSU, Chico for thirty-plus years, Reck is a self-proclaimed "displaced person in academia." He says the institution has been good to him, but he just can't figure out how he got caught up in the world of memos and GPA's. Armed with a B.A. in Journalism, an M.A. in English, and a Ph.D. in American Literature, he certainly has the credentials for the ivory tower. And yet, his quirky persona sets him apart among the sweater vests.

On our first meeting, Reck was garbed in a tin-foil-esque silver windbreaker and jeans. He reclined jauntily in his chair as if he'd known me for years. It's not hard to tell why this fellow is one of the most popular teachers on campus: his dry sense of humor and hefty outpourings of sarcasm make him perennially youthful, perching on the edge of rebellion. He teaches film, emphasizing the major themes and implications of cinema, and considers himself more a film historian than a critic. He has eclectic taste: everyone from Bogey and Marilyn to Adam Sandler and Flesh Gordon appear on his walls. However, his placement of the classic Casablanca at the tippity-top of his all-time film hit list and his choice of Bogart as his favorite actor reveal his soft spot for the old school.

Though Reck has opted to retire soon, his free time won't be spent in an easy chair. An avid cyclist, Reck relies on his bike for most of his transportation as well as recreational riding (sans Spandex, he assured me). He also partakes in yoga five times a week. Recent jaunts to Venice and southern Mexico demonstrate his penchant for frequent travel. As with most other things, he approaches these vacations with a slightly different slant. Reck is by no means an average camcorder-toting traveler. "Pounding the pavement and absorbing the atmosphere" are Reck's main objectives on such excursions. This means avoiding the tourist spots, easy transit routes, and safe cuisine in favor of kicking it with the locals as much as possible.

When he's stationed in Chico, you can frequently find this well-rounded guy at the Blue Room above Collier Hardware, watching community theatre, of which Reck is a big supporter. He was eager to list a series of productions that people should make it their business to see at the locale and actors that he found particularly adept. However, if you are cruising the coffee houses on the streets of Chico looking for a glimpse, you are out of luck. Reck has the caffeinated stuff delivered to his home once a month and grinds it himself. A bit of a gourmet, Reck enjoys the fine art of vegetarian cooking and indulges in it as much as possible. Sometimes making treks to San Francisco for high class olive oil, Reck likens the trips to that of a pioneer coming in from the prairie for supplies.

On the home front, Reck is happily hitched. He and his wife are the proud guardians of two cats, Garfield and Fuzzybitch. Though Reck is willing, there are no plans for any more feline additions to the family.

Elizabyth Hiscox, University Publications. Hiscox, a sophomore in English, is one of the Presidential Scholars featured in Chico Statements over the past two years.