Letter

New SUNY Geneseo students will miss out on Bill Cook

By Matthew Guarnero

The new freshman at SUNY Geneseo are truly missing out because they will not have the opportunity to take any classes with Professor Bill Cook — and this is a shame.

As a recent graduate who has taken four classes—around 200 lectures— with Professor Cook, I can say that were it not for this phenomenal professor I doubt I would have remained at Geneseo. I would not look back on Geneseo with half of the fond memories from those classes and from the relationship I built with him.

The first class I took with Professor Cook was “Western Humanities,” a class he personally designed.

I learned three things about Professor Cook in Humanities. First, he is a born lecturer who loves his job. Second, he appreciates the classics and is very good at inspiring others with that same appreciation. Finally, I learned that Bill Cook is the best dressed man in Geneseo, and perhaps the rest of Livingston County.

In his course “The Bible,” Professor Cook taught me the value of not letting personal beliefs get in the way of academic study.

While taking Professor Cook’s course on “Medieval Italian City States” in Siena, Italy, I learned the value of doing things for “Bene Comune,” “the Common Good.”

In “Age of Dante,” I learned of a whole new way to approach the classics; one must not allow themselves to be overwhelmed by writings… but embrace the complexity.

Professor Cook is no longer one of my professors he ceased to be as of noon on May 12. He is much more than a professor to me now, he truly is one of my dearest friends and most influential mentor.

The time that he and I have shared together has been some of the most educational times for me both inside and outside of the classroom, and there has been no other professor at Geneseo who has affected me in this way.

If there is one lesson in particular that I will take from Professor Cook, it is when in a time of need pick someone whom you respect and have an imaginary conversation with them.

Professor Cook knows the person whom I will always have my imaginary conversations with will be him.