This essay is a compilation of several conversations with Dr. Gene Roth, Distinguished Teaching Professor Emeritus at Northern Illinois University. Dr. Roth is past President of the Academy of Human Resource Development, and although he is well known for his efforts in bringing humor into the field of HRD, he is not the same Gene Roth that played…

Everyone has had college instructors who they thought were excellent and those who were not. In pondering what attributes might have made the difference between these groups, the idea of "humor" came to mind, setting the researcher on course to study the research question "What role does humor in the higher education classroom play…

College professors face many pressing challenges: staying current in their disciplines, becoming familiar with new technology, responding to national accountability issues, publishing scholarly research in their fields, and facilitating student learning in their classes. Teaching and learning are complex processes. Humor is a powerful…

Loyal Jones talks about his role in the Council of the Southern Mountains, the controversy that led to its demise, founding the Appalachian Center at Berea College (Kentucky), and elitist attitudes of liberal arts colleges that hinder sincere efforts to help Appalachian people. He discusses humor as a way of simultaneously putting people on and…