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Don’t mistake the undecorated walls and dearth of memorabilia in Math Professor Jim Bostwick’s office on the Yavapai College Verde Valley Campus for signs that, after nearly 31 years, he’s planning to escape.

The tall, lanky and constantly smiling professor sometimes reminds himself that he’s eligible for retirement. He leaned  that direction when he relocated to the second floor of Building M shortly after it was renovated a few years ago. “I thought this was going to be temporary,” he said of his sparse office. “But I just keep coming back.”

An Outstanding Faculty member award Bostwick received this spring may soon be joining the stacks of math practice papers covering a utilitarian table and the giant, almost mini-cooler sized water container that takes up most of the blank space on his desk.

Despite the award and his popularity with students, Bostwick occasionally flirts with the idea of retiring from teaching. The answer to the inner “why not?” comes as easily to him as scrawling a calculus problem on a classroom whiteboard: “Because I’m still enjoying it.”

More specifically, Bostwick said, “What I love the most is the interaction with the students. It doesn’t get old, because you get new students every semester.”

Bostwick said he thrives on the direct role he plays in student discovery and success -- “the immediate result of your work – that you can help someone understand. It’s so rewarding.” He shared an example of a returning student who failed in college the first go-round and is now his highest performer.

“The cool thing about teaching (at the college level)  is you see people coming back to school who find out they really are good students and they now have a goal.”

Something else he loves about teaching? Seeing former students living their dreams, even if it’s from a prone position in a hospital bed before and after surgery. He said he relishes hearing from former students about how his classes made it possible for them to become nurses, teachers or entrepreneurs.

“Solid, close” friendships are another byproduct of nearly half a lifetime teaching at the same institution in a tight-knit community,” Bostwick said. “Yavapai College has been such a great organization to work for and the Verde Valley community has been fantastic.”

A colleague for more than 20 years, Barbara Waak said she has benefited from Bostwick’s encouragement and students-first teaching mantra. “He is always and only about whatever is best for students. He optimizes the caring, encouraging, fair, and approachable faculty member," said Waak, associate dean of the YC Verde Valley Campus and Sedona Center.

Bostwick grew up in Phoenix and enrolled at Northern Arizona University out of a desire for smaller-town living. Not having an end goal made college tough early on and he considered leaving --  until he took a student job as a math tutor and discovered the joy of teaching. He recalls thinking to himself during a tutoring session, “Well shoot, I might as well do something I like.”

Bostwick began his teaching career at Orme School in 1985, earning his master’s degree from NAU during the summers. In 1988, he took a grant-funded, teaching position at the YC Prescott campus and coached YC’s cross country team before taking a permanent faculty position on the Verde Valley campus in 1994.

Bostwick fondly remembers “back in the day” at YC when all of his classes were in person. Today, most of his classes are online -- a fact that his him constantly striving to engage students and reap the rewards of student success via technology.  “It’s a little harder to see that student understanding in the online world,” he said.

While he misses the interaction of face-to-face teaching, Bostwick acknowledges the convenience and accessibility of the virtual classroom. Teaching online allows him more time with his wife and soon-to-be adopted 5-year-old foster son.

So, blame the new young family and an unwavering desire to help students succeed for delaying Bostwick’s departure from the teaching profession. “I have a reason to work longer,” he says, smiling.