The Road Well Traveled
Embarking upon retirement, Professor Emeritus Rae Wallen (.56) shifts his focus from global travel to global education.

By Charlene J. Hankinson (Findlay Magazine, Volume 88, Number 1)


Raeburn Wallen, professor emeritus of religion, visited this gold-encrusted Buddhist shrine in Thailand on one of his nearly 70 trips abroad. Now retired after 40 years at UF, Wallen is enjoying more time for travel and writing.

Religion Scholar
A religion scholar and international traveler, Raeburn Wallen has expanded his nearly 5O-year residence in Findlay to a global experience. Generations of American students at Findlay have benefited from his knowledge, many having accompanied him on trips across the world, and UF international students have found him a friend and confidant when far away from home.

Retired but not retiring
Retiring from full-time teaching after the 1998-99 academic year, Wallen was named as professor emeritus of religion. In "retirement," he has found a new frontier in exploring the world through the Internet and a new challenge in developing distance learning courses. His curiosity about the world and his concern for students remain a constant in his life.


Teaching on the 'net
Developing an Internet course on "Enduring Issues in World Religions" took much of his time during the summer of 1999, and he taught the course to a class of seven in the fall of 1999. "I'm loving it," Wallen commented of the Internet course. "It is a brand new experience. 1 was worried at first. I thought, you know, an old person, you can't teach them new things. But I've had to learn the whole process, and I really think that ( the students) are learning. "

He described the setup as the most difficult in making sure all the technical aspects of the programming were correct. Even a small error, such as typing a comma for a period, can cause a link to another part of the course to fail. He investigated courses offered by other universities to see what he liked about the way they were constructed and what he didn't, and then developed his own format. He incorporated many hyperlinks to Web sites he specially selected which provided additional information, photos, news clips and videos to supplement the course.

Along with his typed "lectures," Wallen and his students participate in discussions of the material via a chat room. "You have the one-on-one contact, even though you can't see them," he remarked.

Students may be on business trips or at home looking after children and still participate in the course. This flexibility applies to the professor as well. Wallen went to Florida for the winter in early December just before the semester was over. He agreed to teach the course as long as the last several sessions could be taught while he was "under the palm trees. "

"It's a different type of teaching. The students are older, and they do their assignments and then they e-mail them back to me," he noted. Wallen prints out their papers, makes corrections and comments, and then mails them back to the students. Students also can get a whole transcript of the chat room discussions, as well as print out the lectures. "I think it is the method of the future," he asserted.


A classroom innovator

Since he began teaching in 1959, Wallen has taught world religions, ethics, philosophy, travel seminars, Christian education and the Old and New Testaments. He has always been a person who was eager to try new and innovative things.

During his early years at Findlay College, he was in charge of the convocations programs. He brought in a number of famous speakers such as Dr. Benjamin Spock, Pierre Salinger and Vance Packard, with a focus on the controversial.


He also made use of the most current technology of the day in setting up one of the first "telelectures" whereby prominent persons, such as Gerald Ford (before he was president) and Margaret Mead, were hooked up by telephone .with students at Findlay College, Ohio Northern University and . Bluffton College. Students could also ask questions during the format. Topics included poverty, economics, the draft, Vietnam, the future of the . Republican and Democratic parties, academic freedom and the "new" morality .

In his course on "Critical Analysis of Values in Contemporary Society," students debated prison reform, artificial insemination, euthanasia and inter-racial issues among others.

It was his passion for exploring values and beliefs that caused news writer Edward P. Morgan to refer to Wallen as "a young, alert professor of religion...who is raising questions and demanding answers...breaking the stereotype molds of curriculum with spirited controversy which gives his classes some relevance to the world beyond Findlay."

Wallen noted that the most satisfying aspect of his nearly 40-year teaching career was helping struggling students to become successful. "When I can light a fire, when I can bring that student up to an 'A ' level...it takes a lot of time of the professor because you're giving of your own personal time, but then, when you see that student all at once take off and apply those things to his other classes..that's my greatest joy to see them progress," he declared.


Teaching through travel

"Then my second greatest joy is when I'm on location with the students," he said. Wallen's travel seminars began in November of 1971 when he took four students to the Middle East to complete a special course in religion. They traveled by air to Cyprus and then by luxury liner to Turkey, Beirut, Lebanon and Israel. Since then, he has made more than 30 trips abroad with students to Israel and the Middle East, Spain, Mexico, Europe and Hawaii.

Lauren Turner '79 wrote of his experience during a travel seminar in December 1976 in Findlay Magazine Volume 88 Number 1 publication, "Professor Wallen's travel experience and his knowledge of the Middle East were invaluable to all of us on the trip. He advised us on how to spend our money, kept us from getting lost, got us through customs quickly and took us to places few tourists ever see."

Numerous grants and awards further aided his travel over the years and enabled him to attend seminars and do research on many cultures and religions. He studied historical Christianity in Europe and researched Theravada Buddhism in Thailand, where he had a personal audience with the head Buddhist and personal monk of the King. He also visited and studied the cultures in Denmark, France, Italy, Spain, Puerto Rico, China, Japan, Hong Kong, England and St. Petersburg, Russia. He has visited Buddhist and Shinto shrines in Japan and Singapore, researched religious art in Paris, studied Islam in Malaysia and examined Mayan ruins in Mexico.

Within the past few years Wallen visited a step pyramid amid the Chitzen Itza ruins in Mexico known as "The Castle." He explained that the pyramid serves as a calendar more accurate than today's that registers the seasons and has 364 steps for each day of the year. The temple resides on top and in the interior of the pyramid.

The statistics are impressive . Wallen and his wife, Marcie (Owens '59), have traveled abroad 69 times, including 24 trips to Israel, 10 to Hawaii and 16 to Cancun, Mexico. In all, he has visited 41 countries, territories and principalities.

Retirement offers him further opportunities for exploration. The day after graduation last May, Wallen, his wife and their son Michael ('85) left for Paris, France. Their love of travel is aided by their son's job with American Airlines, providing them with either free or greatly discounted airline tickets.


Promoting understanding

His interest in religion and culture made Wallen a natural advocate and liaison with the international students on Findlay's campus. He helped promote awareness and understanding of other cultures with the campus and the local community through the annual International Night. April 1999's event marked 31 years that Wallen helped organize the highly popular activity. During the day, hundreds of children visited the exhibits, and, in the evening, crowds packed the Alumni Memorial Union to sample the food, see various cultural artifacts, enjoy the colorful costumes, and witness performances of native dances and traditions of cultures from every continent. "We're fortunate to have these kids surrounding us on campus," Wallen emphasized, noting, "We should take advantage of it. "

Dr. Raeburn Wallen '56, professor emeritus of religion, and his wife, Marceline Owens '59, were honored at his retirement in May 1999.


A Findlay fixture

Wallen has had plenty of experience organizing events during his long tenure at Findlay. His first position was as alumni director. Former Findlay College President 0. J. Wilson hired Wallen as he walked across the stage at seminary graduation in 1959. He had been hired as part-time alumni director in January 1959. Spending six years in the position, Wallen is credited with establishing alumni clubs across the nation, including Arizona and Pennsylvania. "I enjoyed planning the homecomings with the students and planning the alumni banquets," he recalled. In addition, he initiated the Distinguished Alumnus Award and the rose ceremony at the alumni banquet for those who graduated more than 50 years ago.

He edited the first alumni magazine, the "Findlay College Alumnus," and made a record of the Findlay College choir available to the public. He also aided in the $1 million campaign that resulted in the accreditation of Findlay College in the early 1960s. Wallen came to Findlay in 1950 from Leadwood, Missouri, after attending Flat River Junior College for a year. In addition to earning degrees from Findlay College and Winebrenner Theological Seminary, he also earned a master of religious education degree from Oberlin Theological Seminary and a master of arts degree in religion from Case Western Reserve University, where he also took course work toward a doctorate.

In 1995, The University of Findlay awarded him an honorary doctor of world religions degree.

His educational attainments didn't come easy. Wallen related how he paid his tuition by donating blood, which at the time paid by the pint. He would give blood in Findlay, Lima and other places until he made enough to cover his schooling. He told of another time when he lived on bread and applebutter for a week. So it's been a struggle for education, but it's paid off totally," he said.


Honored for excellence

During his illustrious career, Wallen received many awards and accolades, including being named a Danforth Associate and selection for Marquis Who's Who in America, Who's Who in Religion, Ohio Lives, Biographies of International Leaders and the Dictionary of International Biography. He also is a Phi Beta Delta International Scholar and served as editor of the organization's newsletter, The Medallion, for many years.

Now that he is retired, Wallen is enjoying the freedom to do as he wants when he pleases. His plans include writing, putting together a family genealogy for his children and, of course, traveling with his wife, Marcie. His children are Tamra, who attended The University of Findlay and graduated from Miami University in 1979; Ron, who attended the University until 1983; and Michael, who graduated from Findlay in 1985.

Reminiscing about his years at Findlay, Wallen acknowledged, "There is just so much for which I am thankful about my life at the University and the many things that I was able to be a part of on the campus...I'm going to miss that kind of contact with students, but I love my retirement, especially in Winter Park, Fla. "