ProfessorDavis

ProfessorDavis teaches courses in social science, and especially on Russia and American foreign policy. He spent a number of years in the American foreign service, and has served in positions such as US ambassador to Switzerland, Guatemala and Chile. He was also in charge of the Soviet desk at the state department for some time.

He has an amazing and intimate knowledge of twentieth century U.S. history that can sometimes be scary - especially as, for some fair bit of it, he was there, front and center. His numerous insider stories give both proof and color to his personal and professional influence over these events, and can be quite enlightening with regard to the foreign policy process.

Some of the classes that he's been known to teach include

• Nuclear Arms Control Seminar (Considered by some to be the BEST class at Mudd)
• US Foreign Policy Since WWII
• History of Russia, the USSR, and Successor States 1917 - Present
• History of Russia Before the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution

He's a very friendly person, who's always willing to grant a term paper extension should one be needed.

He has lots of great stories to tell: the one about the tiger pit in Guatemala, about when he didn't go to Disneyland with Nikita Khrushchev, how he nearly got on Nixon's bad side because of modern art, the various times he was almost shot... just to start. Make sure to take a class from him at some point!

Do be warned that Davis classes demand a long attention span, and often tend toward lectures/monologues rather than discussion. They may not be everyone's idea of fun, though most students seem to enjoy them.

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QUOTES:

Sowing wild oats has become more and more hazardous these days.

The state would wither away in one great crashing wither.

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Not to be confused with Professor Steven Davis (CMC philosophy/religious studies), Professor Adam Davis (Scripps ceramics), or Professor Ann Davis (Pomona philosophy of science)

• Not likely to be confused for any of those, given that he's no longer with us.