An oral history conducted by Susan Resnik, Ph.D. with former San Diego State University Professor Henry Janssen on November 4, 2009. In 1953, Janssen accepted a position in the political science department at San Diego State College. He was instrumental in creating multi-disciplinary classes and helped to found the master's program in Liberal Arts. The Associated Students awarded Janssen with the Outstanding Faculty Award in 1971. San Diego State Alumni and Associates again honored Janssen with the Outstanding Faculty Award in 1983. Janssen retired in 1989. His tenure lasted thirty-five years, which made him the longest teaching professor at San Diego State University at that time. Janssen's oral history documents his early childhood, education, and his tenure at San Diego State University. He details his early childhood in Kansas during the Depression as well as his academic and military pursuits. He shares many remembrances of the adventures he and his friends had on their farm, including their barn trapeze act. He also discusses his forward observation army unit during World War II. He goes on to talk about his tenure at San Diego State University as a professor of political science, and reflects on how San Diego State University changed over the decades, particularly during the anti-communist 1950s and the Vietnam protests during the 1960s and early 1970s. In addition, Janssen mentions his teaching philosophy and his role in introducing multi-disciplinary classes. This oral history was made possible by a grant from the John and Jane Adams Endowment for the Humanities and is part of the University Archives Multimedia Files Collection., San Diego State University
