There may not be a more old-fashioned professor still teaching than Perry Lentz, Class of 1964, Kenyon's Charles Pettit McIlvaine Professor of English. Lentz doesn't allow students to wear caps or eat in class. And his introductory English literature class--complete with mandatory seating chart--focuses unapologetically on "dead, white, European males." But don't be fooled by the traditional exterior. Not only does Lentz love what he does, but a great part of his satisfaction comes from the fresh perspectives offered by his students.

"Very, very often I'll leave a classroom thinking 'I shouldn't be being paid to do this; I should be paying'--and never more so than in this past couple of years," says Lentz.

Not many professors list their department's primary course as their favorite, but Lentz, who has taught "Introduction to Literature and Language" since he joined the faculty in 1969, loves it. "We are dealing with people who are not yet convinced that literature is the most profound way the human species has ever devised to explore reality," Lentz says. "It's a delight to teach them that it is."

The author of two novels set in the Civil War era, Lentz also teaches American literature. His newest book, a work of nonfiction, has grown directly out of his teaching these courses. Indeed, in the book's acknowledgements, Lentz credits his students with causing him to recast his thinking about a novel he's taught for years. Lentz's book, Private Fleming at Chancellorsville: The Red Badge of Courage and the Civil War, interweaves a close reading of Stephen Crane's classic novel with a detailed examination of its historical context.