This week’s Project 100+ memory comes from Bob Baumgartner.  He was born in Marlton and raised in Mount Ephraim, New Jersey.  He attended public schools and graduated from Audubon High School in 2002.  His mother’s family has been in New Jersey since the late 17^th century when they arrived from England.  His mother was a nurse in a doctor’s office and is now retired.  His father’s family has lived in New Jersey since the early 20^th century when his maternal grandfather immigrated from Poland, and his paternal grandfather arrived from Backibrestovak in what was then the Austrian-Hungarian empire (today Yugoslavia).  His father graduated from Glassboro State College in 1978 with a degree in biology and worked for a company that analyzed various medical reports, such as electrocardiograms (EKGs) and heart monitor data, for hospitals and doctor’s offices.  He is also now retired.  Bob began at Rowan University in the Fall of 2002 as a history and secondary education major as well as a member of the college track team (throwing the hammer and the 35-pound weight).  He graduated in the Spring of 2006.  He got a job that Fall at Triton High School, where he taught for the next 16 years.  During this time, he earned a master’s degree in Higher Education at Rowan University, finishing in 2011.  While at Triton, he coached indoor and outdoor track (and briefly cross country as well).  Over the years he has participated in a host of professional development activities, including ones at the Lincoln Forum and at the Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College.  He has presented on his research at Virginia Tech and also at the “Old Baldy” Civil War Roundtable in New Jersey.  He has also been a guest on multiple podcasts, including Keith Harris’s “The Rogue Historian” and Rowan’s “Beyond Brown and Gold.”  After he left Triton High School, he began adjunct teaching at Rowan University and working for Virtua Health Systems.  In 2023, he returned to the classroom, teaching history and other humanities at Gloucester County Christian School in Pitman, New Jersey. 

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Beginning in middle school, I decided that I wanted to be a teacher.  When I was a freshman in high school, I thought I would become a biology teacher.  However, by the time I reached my senior year, I had decided that there were some elements of being a biologist, notably drawing, that I could just not do well.  So, I shifted my focus to becoming a high school history teacher.

I applied to three colleges, York College of Pennsylvania, the College of New Jersey, and Rowan University.  I was planning to be on the track team at all three colleges.  Finances were important to me.  I didn’t love my visit to York for various reasons.  Once Rowan admitted me, I decided to go there. 

I remember my summer orientation at Rowan. I met with you Dr. Carrigan, and you signed me into your class and got Jim Heinzen to sign me into his Western Civilization class.  Those were my two history classes in the Fall.  I enjoyed both those classes very much, and I remember numerous things, including your hilarious description of the differences between upcountry and blackbelt yeomen.  I can also remember a funny story in the Western Civ course.  I was waiting for the class to start, and I was listening to Johnny Cash with a Discman and my headphones.  Dr. Heinzen came in, saw the compact disc on my desk, picked it up, and went to the front of the room.  He showed the class the CD and said “Johnny Cash is the man!”  I can still remember the stunned expression on the face of my fellow classmate Chris Swenson.

In the Spring, I took World History with David Applebaum and Modern Middle East with Cory Blake.  I remember Joe Nappi, the 2024 New Jersey Teacher of the Year, was in this course with me.  David Applebaum was an interesting and unusual person.  As one example, there was one class period where he did not show up to class.  On our WebCT for the course, however, he posted “I am currently in a precarious position with a porcelain bowl and running water.” That was the entire message.  Most of us were, as we often were in the class, puzzled.  However, fellow history major Vic Baker figured it out and said to us, “he is sick.”

In the Fall of my sophomore year, I took Historical Methods with Jim Heinzen and Cultural Chinese History with Edward Wang.  I can remember this very funny moment in the course with Dr. Wang.  He was discussing foot binding in China, and he decided that he would contrast this with the walking style of Meg Ryan.  So, he did this amble in the classroom and said, “Meg Ryan, very pretty, but walks like a truck driver.” In the Spring of my sophomore year, I took Medieval World with Scott Morschauser and Twentieth Century Europe with Jim Heinzen.  That same semester, I took World Regional Geography on Chet Zimolzak.  He was a character. 

During my junior year, the track team had a meet at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia.  I remember this meet because I had a terrible throw that went outside of the hammer throw area and nearly landed on the track.  After the meet, my coach put on the website that my errant throw was due to my having “Civil War flashbacks” as a result of the meet being in the historic town of Fredericksburg.  He knew that I was a big history nerd because I had earlier taken a walk down to the battlefield. 

During my junior year, I took two courses with you, Civil War and Reconstruction in the Fall and, in the Spring, United States History, 1820-1861.  The latter course was memorable for many reasons, including the biographies that we read of James Henry Hammond and William Ellison. I can remember that I wrote a paper on the secessionist newspaper editor William Parsons for that class as well.

During the Fall of my senior year, I had Senior Seminar with Melissa Klapper.  I wrote a paper on the Irish Brigade for this class, and I remember taking a group of my fellow students to the University of Pennsylvania to do research. 

One of the things that I really enjoyed was being asked to participate in the searches that the Department was conducting for new faculty members.  In my junior year, I participated, along with Glenn Paine, on the search that led to the hiring of Scott Morschauser.  In my senior year, I helped out with the search that resulted in Chima Korieh being hired.

I also enjoyed being asked to join the works-in-progress sessions that took place at lunchtime.  I can remember participating in three over the years, one by David Applebaum, one by Joy Wiltenburg, and one by Cory Blake.

I also remember that you put together a panel on public history for your Internship in History course.  You asked me to help you with it, and I can remember putting it on for two years.  One of the years, I remember that we met at 8am to organize it, and you played Hank Williams, Sr. while we were working.

I joined Phi Alpha Theta (PAT) in my sophomore year, and I remember that Nelson Johnson, who wrote Boardwalk Empire, was our speaker. That same evening, Pat Tillman was killed in Afghanistan.  It is crazy the things that you remember.  In any event, I was not able to be an officer in PAT because I didn’t have enough free time with all my track duties.

I have always thought that Rowan University had a fantastic history department.  We didn’t have teaching assistants, and we were so lucky to be able to interact with these outstanding professors.  They came from prestigious universities, but they were always willing to spend time with you.  I have kept in contact with many of them all these years later.  I am not alone, as I still see many of my former classmates at the various reunions and events organized by the Department.

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This is part of the Department of History’s “Project 100+,” an ongoing collection of memories by Glassboro State College and Rowan University alumni and staff that began as part of the celebration of the 100^th anniversary of the founding of Glassboro Normal School, later Glassboro State College, and now Rowan University.  Due to interest in the project, the number of interviewees continues to grow.  Thanks to Laurie Lahey for helping proofread and edit the final versions.  Email carrigan@rowan.edu with questions or corrections.  You can find the Link to all of the Project 100 and Project 100+ entries on the Web:  https://chss.rowan.edu/departments/history/alumni_highlights/project_100/