RIP Dr. Phillip Naylor

[Billy Hoyle]

Sad news: Dr. Naylor passed away last week. Western Civ with him as a freshman was the ultimate "welcome to college and Marquette academics" experience. Earning an A in his class during second semester remains my proudest academic accomplishment at MU. He even asked me for my term paper on Garibaldi and the unification of Italy to use as an example for future students (back when we all had to use microfiche for research). I got to have dinner with him many years later at Big East meetings as he was the FAR.

https://today.marquette.edu/2026/07/university-mourns-history-professor-emeritus-dr-phillip-naylor/

My favorite Dr. Naylor memory comes from that second semester too. Wednesday was the NIT title game against Va Tech, and we had tests scheduled for Thursday and Friday. He started class by reminiscing about how much fun he had marching to the lakefront in 1977 and hoped we'd have the same experience... the tests were postponed until the following week. Standing ovation!

[Scoop Snoop]

Really nice write up Billy. I have many great memories of my profs at Marquette.

My "coup" at MU was in a poly-sci class where I wrote a paper successfully predicting a huge upset in Ireland's election between Fine Gael and Fianna Fail. I had immersed myself in the Irish Times and concluded that the voters were grumbling loudly, ready to boot out the incumbents. The best part was that the prof laughed off my premise before it became true. 

I wish I had the opportunity you had to have dinner with a favorite professor. 

[Billy Hoyle]

Really nice write up Billy. I have many great memories of my profs at Marquette.

My "coup" at MU was in a poly-sci class where I wrote a paper successfully predicting a huge upset in Ireland's election between Fine Gael and Fianna Fail. I had immersed myself in the Irish Times and concluded that the voters were grumbling loudly, ready to boot out the incumbents. The best part was that the prof laughed off my premise before it became true. 

I wish I had the opportunity you had to have dinner with a favorite professor. 

One of the reasons I gave my dad to justify going to (and paying for) MU was that I didn't want to "just be a number" and get to know my profs, unlike at a 40,000 student state school. One in Poli Sci was only at MU one year, but 30 years later we still talk and hang out, and his daughter was the flower girl in my wedding. That was a special aspect of MU. My wife was cleaning out a family storage unit recently and found a letter sent to her parents by a professor she had at MU praising her performance in class and her future in her major. That doesn't happen at Buckyville. I can honestly say neither my sister or brother have ever mentioned one of their professors to me by name (MSU and UM).

The funny part of the dinner with Dr. Naylor was that we did a "Yankee swap" after the meal. Well, he had picked a really nice MU pullover I knew my wife would like. I turned to him and asked, "You can't change that A I got from you, can you?" and swiped it! We had a good laugh and shared a drink. An amazing professor and person who epitomized what an MU education was about.

[21Jumpstreet]

Inspired me to double major, psychology and history.

[muwarrior69]

Most of the Professors I had were "ball busters". I had a 90 average in one of my Biology courses and got a C grade because he graded on a curve. The average grade for the class was 88. To get a B you needed to have a 92 and an A a 96. Most of the class were pre-med students. We all complained to no avail. He only gave out 3 As. He told all of us all that if we thought he was not fair and too tough just wait until you get out in the real world. Some times your transcript does not reflect the whole story.

My freshman Chemistry Professor had 7 unannounced quizzes instead of a Midterm or Final. We thought for sure we would have one on the last class before Christmas break. Nope! We had it on the first class after Christmas break. Back then the fall semester ended the 3rd week in January.

Our Organic Chemistry professor schedule our final lab exam at 6 in the evening on the last day of class before Christmas break. There was one exam for all his day and evening classes so I guess it was reasonable but he could have scheduled in January closer the end of the semester.

I had to get permission to take Dr. Klements 2 semester Cival War Class since I was not a history major or minor because it was the only humanities course I could sign up for without interfering with my science courses and labs. The midterm and final were each a third of your final grade. Your term paper counted as the the other 3rd. Most students picked a historical figure to write about. Instead I chose to play the "devils advocate" making the case that the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments were not constitutionally passed as they did not meet the 2 thirds threshold in the House or the Senate nor ratified by three fifths of the states duly elected state legislators. I was surprised when I got an A- on the paper though he clearly stated my arguments were dubious, but appreciated the effort in writing a paper so different from all the other students.

I was just an average student at Marquette graduating just slightly above the middle of my class.

[Uncle Rico]

Vaxxed?

[muwarrior69]

Vaxxed?

When I attended Marquette the vaccinations I had were small pox and polio. As a kid I already had both the Measles and German Measle, Chicken Pox and caught whooping cough when I was 3. So pretty much natural immunity for all the child hood disease. No, I am not against vaccines.

[ATL MU Warrior]

How in the world do you guys remember all these details about profs, classes, etc.?  I remember the name of exactly one professor from all of my classes over the four years I was there.

[Uncle Rico]

How in the world do you guys remember all these details about profs, classes, etc.?  I remember the name of exactly one professor from all of my classes over the four years I was there.

They're not vaxxed

[Billy Hoyle]

Most of the Professors I had were "ball busters". I had a 90 average in one of my Biology courses and got a C grade because he graded on a curve. The average grade for the class was 88. To get a B you needed to have a 92 and an A a 96. Most of the class were pre-med students. We all complained to no avail. He only gave out 3 As. He told all of us all that if we thought he was not fair and too tough just wait until you get out in the real world. Some times your transcript does not reflect the whole story.


I was just an average student at Marquette graduating just slightly above the middle of my class.

I was the only freshman in a Stats class I took and I got a 92.75 or something like that - an A was a 93. I went to the prof and asked he'd give me an A because I was so close and he said "you didn't get a 93."

I hated how we didn't have minus grades but rather AB, which was 3.5/4, then down to B at 3.0, when most other schools you dropped to an A-, a 3.7, then a B+ was a 3.3. When applying to law school, my GPA was lower because of that damn grading scale.

How in the world do you guys remember all these details about profs, classes, etc.?  I remember the name of exactly one professor from all of my classes over the four years I was there.

I can remember the names of a strong majority of my professors and nearly every class I took at MU. I don't remember the name of the PHIL 050 TA I had, but I remember she was kind of hippie-ish, wore a mood ring occasionally, and after class one day insinuated to a buddy and me that she was intersted in the three of us getting together in her office after hours. Passed on that offer but I still got an A.

[Badgerhater]

I worked for him as a teaching assistant.  Just an all around great person and historian.