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By Amy Geiszler-Jones

Erach Talaty makes a point in his beginning chemistry class. Talaty, the 1999 Kansas Professor of the year, says the formula for a successful teacher is get to know the students and provide them the tools to succeed.

Just visit Erach Talaty’s organic chemistry class and you’ll pick up several clues about his formula for success as a teacher.

"Where do you find phenol in a pharmacy?" he asks, after drawing the compound on the chalkboard. "Cloraseptic, the throat spray," he replies in his usual rapid-fire manner. "Phenol is an antiseptic."

He calls on students by name. When one student gives a wrong answer, he assures her, "That’s OK. We’re here to learn together."

After the 50-minute class, three students gather around him, quizzing him about lecture material. Two others make arrangements to visit him in his office later.

Relating chemistry to everyday life is the way he helps students understand chemistry. Getting to know the students and making every effort to help them succeed is how he motivates them to learn more.

"We have to remember (students) are human beings with aspirations, goals and needs," Talaty said. "That is the only secret to being a good teacher: Meet their needs, take an interest in them and show them the way."

His teaching formula has garnered him two awards this year, including the most recent honor as Kansas Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation and the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education.

For some time now, students have been touting Talaty as a teaching success.

"I’ve only been here 10 months, but I’ve heard more about (him) from students than any other faculty member since I’ve been an administrator," said President Beggs when he presented Talaty with his latest award.

David Glenn-Lewin, dean of Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, said he’s run out of ways to say "thank you" when he sends Talaty copies of the numerous letters he receives every semester from grateful students.

Students describe "Dr. T," in a variety of

ways: "dedicated," "inspiring," "admirable," to name a few.

"He’s very motivating," said Cindy Lathrom, a medical lab technologist in Talaty’s organic chemistry class. "And he genuinely cares about your goals. He does what he can to help you succeed."

Talaty often sacrifices sleep and meals, much to the chagrin of practicing nurses in his classes, to write lengthy problems and notes or to hold extensive help sessions. After two hip replacements and bypass surgery, the 73-year-old Talaty shows no signs of slowing down.

While he energetically lectures every day in beginning and advanced chemistry classes as he has for the past 30 years at WSU, he’s also known for what he does outside the classroom for students and his profession. He’s written grants for equipment, and his past research is cited frequently in organic chemistry books.

When student Tyson Pechek was studying for a test in Talaty’s class, he was surprised with a late-night call. It was Talaty, checking to see if Pechek had any last-minute questions.

Talaty also volunteers countless hours, helping students prepare for medical school exams.

"He’ll give you five minutes or five hours, whatever you need," said Suzann Palmer, an ER nurse at Wesley Medical Center who is preparing to go to medical school. "He’s a tough teacher who will do anything to get you where you need to be. It’s amazing how he seems to know the level each student is on."

Palmer is also amazed at the number of doctors who recall Talaty from their pre-med days at WSU.

Talaty has always had a special spot for pre-med students, probably because of his own ambitions as a young man in Nagpur, India. He had hoped to become a doctor but no medical school was nearby.

Instead he decided to become a chemistry professor, an idea "put into my head," he said, by his father, a textile mill supervisor who had had similar aspirations.

Talaty went on to earn two doctorates, one in physical chemistry in 1954 from Nagpur University and another in organic chemistry from Ohio State in 1957.

He later studied with three well-known chemists — Melvin Newman whose projections are found in textbooks, Glen Russell who won a national award from the American Chemical Society, and Nobel Prize winner Robert Burns Woodward, whom Talaty called a "master lecturer."