Menard's Legacy: Teaching from the Heart

As a professor of political science, Orville Menard became muse and mentor to his students, inspiring and supporting them far beyond the last day of class and indeed beyond his own lifetime. In a 2014 interview with the Omaha World-Herald, former student and longtime friend Chuck Hagel explained Menard's extraorindary impact as a teacher: "There are a lot of smart people in the world, but all of them aren't necessarily equipped with a certain humanity he had."

Dr. Melvin Cohen, who received his B.A. and M.A. in Political Science at UNO, says Menard changed his life. As a graduate student when Menard was looking for a study abroad opportunity in France, Orv and Darlene Menard invited him to travel thorugh France with them. From there, Cohen went on to research and publish in the area of French politics and later used his knowledge of comparative politics to develop expertise in African politics. He is now a professor of political science at Miami University Middletown in Ohio.

"Orv has been a mentor to me in so many ways," Cohen says. "He embodies integrity, self-confidence, and humility. I would hope I have learned from him."

As she did in France, Darlene Menard, Orv's wife of 60 years, supported her husband in all his endeavors to raise up his students to higher levels of achievement and seld-confidence. Before meeting Orv and Darlene Menard, Teresa Houser saw herself as an average student.

"Probably the most significant contribution the Menards gave me is that they believed in me," Houser says. "Time after time, they helped me to see my potential and to reach it. Their confidence in students is so contagious that we cannot help but believe in ourselves."

Houser graduated from UNO with a B.A. in Political Science, spent 10 years working in Washington, D.C., in various government positions and as a lobbyist. Today she is an instructor at Midland University.

She adds, "My professional success and achievements can be traced directly to the lessons learned in his classroom and the limitless moral support and encouragement Dr. and Mrs. Menard so generously provided outside the classroom."

Students might choose to honor mentors in a number of ways. One of the most unique might be an invitation from Vice President Joe Biden to attend the ceremonial swearing in of the United States Secretary of Defense.

Houser and Cohen, along with others, are contributors to the Darlene and Orville D. Menard Scholarship, awarded each year to an undergraduate political science major.

In Orv Menard's 34 years at UNO, he received the UNO Outstanding Teacher Award, the Chancellor's Medal, and a Ralph Wardle Professorship for distinction in teaching and research. He initiated the European Studies Conference, the Arts and Sciences Honors Program, and was instrumental in the creation of the International Studies program. He published regularly in Nebraska politics, earning local notoriety for his book River City Empire: Tom Dennison's Omaha.

His colleague Dr. Harl Dalstrom knew what mattered most to Orv.

"His great natural ability, his strong individualism, and a steadfast drive to achieve his goals did much to bring him distinction in his career. Yet he knew that his family, especially his wife Darlene, and his teachers had done much to bring him a sulfilling life, and he gave to others spontaneously. Professor Menard helped two generations of students discover that joyful experience of learning which teachers at all levels helped him to find."