Sergio Sandoval

Harvey F. Good, professor of biology, is retiring after 40 years of service to the University of La Verne. During his tenure here, he expanded teaching and research facilities for faculty, students and staff in the biology department. For his hard work and dedication, he was awarded the 2006 Ellsworth Johnson Faculty Service Award at the Faculty and Staff Recognition Ceremony.

Christine Collier
Staff Writer

Some may say a good man is hard to find. But in the case of Harvey Good, 67, there is no need to look any further. This dedicated teacher, family man and friend to so many is retiring after 40 years of devoted service to the University of La Verne community.

The professor of biology was honored at this year’s Annual Faculty and Staff Recognition Ceremony with the 2006 Ellsworth Johnson Faculty Service Award.
Interim Provost Robert Neher presented the award to Good at the assembly, held on April 28 in Founders Auditorium, recognizing him as “a person of quiet character and honor.”

Good has made a lasting impression on those he has worked with and mentored.

“I enjoy the close interactions with the students; some of my best friends now are people who were previously my students,” he said.

Good’s relationship with ULV began when he graduated with his bachelor of arts in life science from La Verne College in 1960. He went on to receive his masters of science in molecular biology from Purdue University in Indiana and then his doctorate education from ULV as well.
Over the years, Good has gone from instructing laboratory classes part-time to earning his current professor emeritus status.

His love for teaching and his students is apparent to all those fortunate enough to experience it.

“By the end of our third class he could put a name to every face,” said Michelle Loggia, a senior public affairs major in one of Good’s Core 340 classes. “He cares deeply about teaching his students.”

One of Good’s first major jobs in education was teaching science at Montclair High School for five years, yet he always seemed to have a desire to return to ULV.

“Since I had taught (at ULV) part-time and had been a student, I knew what (it) was like and I always had that thought ‘you need to go back there,’” Good said.

Good’s move back to ULV gave him the chance to teach courses such as anatomy, animal physiology, genetics and field biology, which eventually led to him becoming the biology department chair for 20 years. Good used his time as department chair to make positive changes.

“What I feel good about developing is that we doubled the size of the staff and faculty and greatly increased the equipment and facilities,” Good said. “Even though we’re small, we provide a high quality program that is as good as any other large university.”

Yet, teaching is just one of Good’s many endeavors. He has worked for more than 30 years as a volunteer firefighter and member of the Mountain Search and Rescue team of the Mt. Baldy Village. He was a faculty representative with his wife, Connie, at Eskimo University in Barrow, Alaska. And he has led field study classes to destinations such as Hawaii and Mexico.

With so much going on in the world of science today, especially in the field of genetics, Good is careful when sharing his thoughts on some of the more ethically challenging issues.

“I don’t have a problem with the development of products through gene manipulation related to plants and animals,” Good said. “I do have a problem with changing the human genome just to benefit our pleasures or desires except when it’s something to correct a medical problem.”
Good’s love for the sciences is apparent to all of those fortunate enough to be on the receiving end of his teaching.

“After having a class with Professor Good it becomes clear through his instruction that he is passionate about science, particularly the environment,” Loggia said.

One of Good’s relationships that has lasted just as long as his career at ULV is his friendship with Neher, also a biology professor.

“When I got here he was a junior in college, so he took classes from me,” Neher said. “He was one of my first graduates in biology.”

Yet, it became evident quickly that Neher was more than a professor to Good, he was an inspiration.

“I was actually a P.E. major and I had to take general biology, I mean I liked biology in high school, but I never thought I’d really go into it, then I had that class with him and got turned on to biology,” Good said.

“Over the years ... he was always such a positive mentor,” Good added.
Good and Neher got along so well that they have worked alongside each other every summer since 1996 running a field research station on ULV’s Magpie Ranch in Montana. Neher for years had wanted to set a project like this in motion, but it was not until Good hopped on board and former ULV student Richard Base donated some land to the University that the project became a reality.

“It’s just wonderful,” Neher said. “His whole family loves Montana and so does mine, so we usually try to have a reunion up there in the summer.”

Another relationship of Good’s to stand the test of time is the one with his wife, Connie “I first saw her when she was two-and-a-half years old,” Good said laughing. “She was a senior in high school while I was a senior here at La Verne, I only saw her at home in San Diego, we went to the same church.”

Yet, Good didn’t have the confidence to ask her out until one of his friends from home intervened.

“I thought she was cute,” Good said. “I had come home and one of my best friends, in fact he ended up being the best man at our wedding, said, ‘You know, Connie and her boyfriend broke up, you ought to ask her out.’”

Good and his wife soon were engaged by the end of her freshman year and married in 1961. At that point, Good had started teaching at ULV and his wife ended up in one of his laboratory classes.

“I graded her just like I did anybody else,” Good said. “And I had all three of my children in my classes when they were students here.”
Good and his wife have two sons – one of whom became a biology professor here – a daughter and five grandchildren.

And just because Good is retiring from full-time teaching doesn’t mean he plans on slowing down anytime soon. He will continue teaching part-time at ULV and has some projects in the works as well. He would also like to spend some time in Europe.

“My family roots are in Switzerland and Prague, so I would love to go to those places and try to track down relationships,” Good said. “And maybe South America and Africa.”

Christine Collier can be reached at ccollier@ulv.edu.