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Columbia College Professor Among Country’s Top Educators

To his growing list of professional accomplishments and personal life experiences, Ted Hamilton can add his selection to the Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers, 2004. He was nominated for the honor four times and was selected twice – in 2000 and now.

Nominations for the honor must come from former students, who have been recognized for academic excellence themselves in Who’s Who Among American High School Students or The National Dean’s List. It is a testimony to outstanding teachers and the publication recognizes inductees as being among the top 5% of educators in the country.

Professor Hamilton, who is a geography, history and political science instructor at Columbia College, said, “In my academic disciplines, you are usually not aware of the difference that you make in a student’s life. It’s not like viewing a work of art and seeing an immediate response. In fact, the time delay may take several decades until you discover that you had an impact on someone’s life.”

“In my perspective, being named to Who’s Who is very significant because it recognizes the teaching profession and its ability to spark inspiration in students to achieve greater goals,” he said.

Ted Hamilton’s entire career has been a textbook on achieving greater goals. As a young student at Modesto Junior College, he played center field and shortstop for the Pirates baseball team. He earned an A.A. degree there in 1968, and transferred to UC Berkeley. But his dreams of becoming a professional ball player were crushed when multiple injuries ended his participation in any collegiate sports.

In June 1970 with a bachelor’s degree in history, Hamilton accepted a position in Japan, teaching Japanese businessmen, graduate students, and English instructors the basic rudiments of the English language, American economics, slang/customs and American history. A year later found him back in California at Cal State Stanislaus, which led to a master’s degree in history and a teaching post at MJC.

In the summer of 1973, faculty members at UC Berkeley recommended him for a position as historian and director of site archeology to the Imperial Iranian Court. While employed there, he traveled extensively in that part of the world and witnessed the range of humanity “from extreme poverty in the streets of Calcutta to the elegance of a Royal Court.”

Hamilton returned from the Middle East in 1975 to pursue another master’s degree in geography from Cal State Stanislaus. From 1976 until 1998, he taught at MJC and joined the Columbia College faculty in the spring of 1998.

Based on years of experience in the field, his advice for new teachers is to challenge students to be better than the standards. “Challenge them to go beyond expectations,” he said.

News Release No. 167-03

December 22, 2003

For Immediate Release

Attachment: Photo of Ted Hamilton