Welcome Back, Mrs. Rozek

Who’s your favorite teacher?

For Ally McBeal star Peter MacNicol, it was Barbara Rozek, his 10th-grade world history teacher, who since 1999 has worked at Rice as an editor of the Jefferson Davis Papers.

The duo, along with several other celebrities and their favorite teachers, was featured in a Target advertising campaign that appeared in national magazines. The campaign promotes Target’s “Take Charge of Education” program, which donates a portion of charges made on Target credit cards to schools of the customers’ choice.

Rozek, who earned her doctorate in history from Rice in 1995, was notified of her selection by MacNicol last winter, and in April she and her husband were flown to Los Angeles for a photo shoot with the Emmy-winning actor. She was thrilled to be reunited with her former student, but it wasn’t that or the star treatment she received that was the best part of the experience.

“The best thing was getting that phone call telling me somebody I taught 25 years ago thought I was a special teacher,” Rozek said. “I just floated on a cloud for days. Most teachers don’t often get that kind of praise.”

Rozek taught MacNicol at a Dallas-area high school in 1969 and 1970 when she was a “rookie” teacher fresh out of Southern Methodist University with her master’s degree.

Of teaching, Rozek said, “There’s nothing like it. There’s something about being in the classroom and the old cliché about seeing the lightbulb go off in students.” She reiterated that teachers rarely get a pat on the back from their students, “and that’s why receiving a book or getting a phone call or a letter from students means so much.”

She admitted to not watching Ally McBeal before learning of her honor as MacNicol’s favorite teacher. But she remembered her former student. He gave her a book, Civilization by Kenneth Clark.

Rozek described MacNicol, who stars as John Cage on the hit show, as an outgoing student who was involved in drama and debate. She was surprised that he selected a world history teacher as his favorite rather than a drama or debate coach.

When she met MacNicol at the photo shoot in L.A., he mentioned several things that made her stand out as a teacher. He told her and the organizers of the advertising campaign that “when you went into her classroom, you knew you were going to work and do things.” In some other classes, he said, students would waste the hour and, before long, an entire week would go by and nothing had been learned.

“He also said that I treated them like adults,” Rozek recounted. “I don’t remember that. I thought of them as students, but I felt that students should be respected and not talked down to.” Rozek had her students read the newspaper every day and bring in clippings that related to history. She recalled that MacNicol enjoyed that activity and that he was never afraid to make a presentation or raise his hand.

The two had a chance to reminisce during the photo shoot. Rozek said the shoot was a “really neat opportunity to make a reconnection. He’s such a genuine, down-to-earth person that it just felt comfortable right off.”

The photo shoot also gave Rozek a glimpse into celebrity life. She had her hair and makeup professionally done, but she noted that she wore her own outfit for the shoot, which surprised her since there was a large wardrobe room. Photographers took countless photos, she said, including ones of her holding an apple, books, and a ruler. But it was MacNicol who suggested they pose with his arms around her, and that was the picture that was ultimately selected.

“I was having fun at the photo shoot telling the makeup artists and others why I was there, and later I heard several of them saying, ‘You know, I need to write a note to my favorite teacher.’ That was another fun part of the experience, that ripple effect,” Rozek said.

She has some favorite teachers of her own, including John Boles, the William P. Hobby Professor of History. Boles, who also is the managing editor of the Journal of Southern History, was Rozek’s adviser when she was a Rice graduate student. She described Boles as a superb teacher and the ultimate historian and said that he is very supportive of his students.

“He’s caring, willing to spend time with you, and encourages you in your own interests in history,” she commented. “I came as an older graduate student, and to be supported in that type of environment was special.”

Rozek also recalled an eighth-grade science teacher who made quite an impact on her. She said that she was “fussing and fuming” about his latest test, and he challenged her to make out the next one. The teacher used the test and said it was great. “That was one of the first times I thought that maybe I could be a teacher,” Rozek said.

A U.S. history professor at Valparaiso University in Indiana also left his mark on Rozek. He made his students learn about maps and geography, and Rozek said that is something she did as a history teacher as well. “I cannot teach history without maps. You have to have an understanding of where the place is that you’re learning about.”

After the photo shoot, she and her husband went to lunch with MacNicol and his wife. The lunch gave Rozek the opportunity to learn more about MacNicol’s life today. Since learning of the honor, she’s tuned in to Ally McBeal, and she compared his television personality to his real-life personality. “It’s intriguing because you’re interested with an actor in how much of the character they play is the same as the person. One of things he does on the show is put his hand to his face to think for a second. And he’s a very thoughtful kind of person in real life too.”

Rozek and MacNicol were featured in the August issue of Rosie and the September issue of Oprah. The ads also will be featured in People and in three educational journals: American School Board Journal, Principal, and Today’s Catholic Teacher.

—Dana Benson