Here at Dissent, we like to be useful and informative, and what could be more useful and informative than info about the people we work with? So I’ve decided to do the occasional “profile” of an employee of the South Orange County Community College District.
Now, as it happens, today, I came across the college website of a certain Saddleback College Econ instructor: Howard Gensler: Gensler website.
Why not a profile of Howard?
YES, HOWARD. Before Howard joined the faculty at Saddleback College in 2003, he was a dean here at IVC. We’ve written before about Dean Howard and his IVC legacy (see The “Howard Hilton”). I do believe that we wrote that piece while Howard was still our dean, and so we had to be, well, careful. But I do believe we managed to convey Howard's special specialness.
By 2001, Howard had presented IVC President Raghu Mathur and two or three trustees with a scheme, hatched by Howard and a local nonagenarian, to create an $800 million private complex, complete with a lake and a Hilton Hotel, here at IVC. For some reason, the venture was being developed (or at least discussed) in secret, but I figured the world really needed to know about it, and so I made a couple of phone calls to reporters. The reporters made inquiries, and then they wrote about Howard’s scheme. For some reason, the whole “Howard Hilton” thing then unraveled. The city was pissed. The scheme was generally regarded as ridiculous, even idiotic. In the end, trustee Wagner, among others, did some serious backpedaling.
And Howard? Let’s just say that lawyers were involved, and then, after a time, Howard showed up on the faculty at Saddleback College. How strange!
So, today, I came across Gensler’s website for the college. Really, it’s like a profile all by itself!
Now, obviously, Howard has a lot to offer, and he’s pretty generous with his offerings on his website. For instance, he explains his “education philosophy”:
The site provides the syllabuses of his various courses, each of which contain the following:
The site’s home page also includes a “biography”:
Howard explains that his
For example, after his Northrop gig went south,
Howard is obviously very proud of being the savior, taxwise, of the world’s most populous country:
But there were many other accomplishments:
HOWARD THE UNLUCKY DUCK. Have you noticed? Howard is plainly the most unappreciated person in the history of humankind. He achieves stunning things—saving China, saving UCI, saving the IRS—and, instead of being hired or promoted, he’s sent packing.
For instance, elsewhere, referring to himself in the third person, he describes his achievements during his brief employment with the Bank of America:
American steel! Saved by Howard!
According to Howard, his Econ dissertation was epoch-shatteringly clever. Alas, continuing a familiar pattern, none of the experts appreciated his work. Howard explains:
I highly recommend these videos. It's like you're looking straight into Howard's soul.
At the college, when you see Howard, tell ‘im, “Hey, vampire!”
Now, as it happens, today, I came across the college website of a certain Saddleback College Econ instructor: Howard Gensler: Gensler website.
Why not a profile of Howard?
YES, HOWARD. Before Howard joined the faculty at Saddleback College in 2003, he was a dean here at IVC. We’ve written before about Dean Howard and his IVC legacy (see The “Howard Hilton”). I do believe that we wrote that piece while Howard was still our dean, and so we had to be, well, careful. But I do believe we managed to convey Howard's special specialness.
By 2001, Howard had presented IVC President Raghu Mathur and two or three trustees with a scheme, hatched by Howard and a local nonagenarian, to create an $800 million private complex, complete with a lake and a Hilton Hotel, here at IVC. For some reason, the venture was being developed (or at least discussed) in secret, but I figured the world really needed to know about it, and so I made a couple of phone calls to reporters. The reporters made inquiries, and then they wrote about Howard’s scheme. For some reason, the whole “Howard Hilton” thing then unraveled. The city was pissed. The scheme was generally regarded as ridiculous, even idiotic. In the end, trustee Wagner, among others, did some serious backpedaling.
And Howard? Let’s just say that lawyers were involved, and then, after a time, Howard showed up on the faculty at Saddleback College. How strange!
So, today, I came across Gensler’s website for the college. Really, it’s like a profile all by itself!
Now, obviously, Howard has a lot to offer, and he’s pretty generous with his offerings on his website. For instance, he explains his “education philosophy”:
I … believe that we should have fun in everything we do. [In class, w]e generally play a roll game rather than just take roll. I use humor liberally. The vast majority of students enjoy my sarcasm and wit….I know I do!
The site provides the syllabuses of his various courses, each of which contain the following:
COURSE CHANGES: I reserve the right to modify the course at any time, including the timing of tests, the due dates and contents of assignments, and coverage of material.Gosh, what a whimsical fellow! No wonder students love him so!
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| Howard is a big Pat Benatar fan |
The site’s home page also includes a “biography”:
I earned five Bachelor’s degrees simultaneously from the UCI, in English, History, Philosophy, Political Science, and Economics, all with honors. … I gave the Honors Convocation Student Speech, which was published by the University. It was the second speech ever published by UCI. The first was Hazard Adams’ retirement speech. He was a founding faculty member and considered one of the most erudite professors ever to teach at UCI. I set the record for multiple majors at UCI. The record still stands….—That’s one thing about Howard. He always finds ways to do very odd, seemingly pointless, things and then to find ways to make ‘em seem like impressive accomplishments! Howard and Hazard! Two erudite fellas. They're practically the same guy.
Howard explains that his
first position was as instructor and academic administer at the Northrop University School of Law. I was soon promoted to Dean. … I was offered the position of Provost, but we were unable to agree on the scope of the position….—This is a motif in the Life of Howard: over and over again, he’s about to achieve greatness, or at least a steady job, but no. He gets fired or something. It’s so unfair!
For example, after his Northrop gig went south,
I soon got hired as an attorney/adviser at the national headquarters of the Internal Revenue Service…. … I was assigned the most difficult regulations project ever tackled by the IRS and completed the project in record time. The Associate Chief Counsel tried to hire me to work on a project to simplify the tax code, but he was blocked by the Commissioner of the IRS….—Dang! Thwarted by the top tax dude! But our Howard was undaunted:
I returned to Southern California and completed a Masters and a Ph.D. in Economics at the UCI. … On graduation, I accepted a position at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology as a Business Law Instructor in the Department of Accounting in the School of Business. … [My partner and I] were invited to be the official translator for China’s tax laws, but the government was unable to agree to a publication cycle as fast as we could provide and insisted on total control of official and unofficial publication….Dang ditto!
Howard is obviously very proud of being the savior, taxwise, of the world’s most populous country:
…If it was published in the 1990’s and it had to do with Chinese business laws, odds are Gensler did it.—Ah, but is he known for such things? Apparently not!
. . .
…In other words, the Chinese were able to pay their taxes thanks to Yang and Gensler’s tax translation service. [My emphasis.]
. . .
Gensler was the undisputed authority on Chinese taxes, as well as a major player in Chinese business law and accounting law.
[I] published about 50 articles and nine books…. I was the world’s foremost authority on Chinese Tax laws during the mid- and late-1990’s….”
But there were many other accomplishments:
I returned to Southern California once again and became Dean of Humanities, Fine Arts and Library Services at Irvine Valley College. I increased the library collection and circulation statistics. I revamped the main fine arts classroom building to improve the college’s small theatre operation. I convinced the administration to move the Theatre building project up to the top building priority at the college….Oddly, there are many here at IVC who offer a very different assessment of Howard’s impact on the library and on the building that contains the theater. Go figure!
HOWARD THE UNLUCKY DUCK. Have you noticed? Howard is plainly the most unappreciated person in the history of humankind. He achieves stunning things—saving China, saving UCI, saving the IRS—and, instead of being hired or promoted, he’s sent packing.
For instance, elsewhere, referring to himself in the third person, he describes his achievements during his brief employment with the Bank of America:
…Gensler not only prevailed in keeping B of A in [the] steel [industry], but Gensler’s findings and recommendations served as the basis for the lead article of the Bank’s Annual World Economic Report, which convinced the nation’s financial system to continue to support the American steel industry.
Gensler saved American steel for five more years….
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| One of Howard's many publications |
According to Howard, his Econ dissertation was epoch-shatteringly clever. Alas, continuing a familiar pattern, none of the experts appreciated his work. Howard explains:
The nation had just spent over $600 million and well over ten years studying welfare in the Negative Income Tax Experiments…. The problem was, the experiments were temporary. Participants didn’t behave normally. They gamed the system. … Gensler used non-experimental data gathered from the Current Population Survey. Gensler’s results were of very high statistical precision and in the appropriate behavioral direction. However, the American economics establishment had just blown $600 million of the taxpayers’ money and wasn’t keen on publishing better work that had been done by a graduate student for free over one summer. Gensler ended up publishing much of his work in English academic journals.HOWARD "GUINNESS BOOK" GENSLER. As we’ve seen, Howard likes to focus on such unique achievements as getting the most degrees or earning those degrees faster than anyone. In the “bio” section of his site, he explains:
After Irvine, I went to UC Berkeley and completed a Juris Doctor…. It was an established 4-year joint program, but they kept telling us that no one ever actually completed it in four years. I don’t know about anybody else, but I finished in four years….DEFIANTLY INCORRECT. Another things about Howard: he’s no fan of “political correctness.” For instance, on the website, he explains
After some adventures in the working world, I decided to return to school to complete a Ph.D. in Economics. I returned to UCI. It generally took seven years to complete a Ph.D. in Economics. I finished in just over five years….
… [At the IRS], Gensler got a new Branch Chief (“Ann”). Ann turned out to be a man-hater, and did everything she could to make Gensler hate his job. She spent most of her time in her office with other female attorneys whining about men. Ann had made Branch Chief in just five years, which was probably a record. It was hard to see how all this sex discrimination from men that she complained about incessantly had hurt her career….Defiant fellow! Elsewhere, he explains that
I spent a great deal of my childhood at the beach bodysurfing and playing football. I was so dark I was the only minority at my high school….WATCH HOWARD MAKE FREE-THROWS, BACKWARDS. Perhaps my favorite part of Howard’s website is “Activities”:
…My favorite game is billiards. I play 8-ball. I often circulate throughout Orange County, challenging people to games at various bars....On the website, Howard actually provides videos of some of his activities and, um, skills:
. . .
Because I am out most nights until 2 am, I got the reputation for being a vampire. The joke stuck, and a buddy and I developed a website: Myvampire.net. It has everything you need to know about vampires.
. . .
I was at the going out of business auction at the Wax Museum in Buena Park and accidentally bought the Batman…. It sort of took over my life. Now I have Batman shirts and Batman belts and all of the Batman movies and the entire TV series on DVD. There’s even a three foot wide Batman symbol on the hood of my car….
I highly recommend these videos. It's like you're looking straight into Howard's soul.
At the college, when you see Howard, tell ‘im, “Hey, vampire!”
27 comments:
He's delusional. He shouldn't be in a classroom. If I wrote a syllabus like that I'd hear from my dean. How does he get away with this crap? He saved American Steel and China? Right.
Now that I have visited Howard's official college website for myself and seen its glory, I think have to file an unual incident report.
It's not only unprofessional - it's alarming.
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
Are we critics? Perhaps so. But we are speaking for victims.
Aren't there standards for syllabi and classroom conduct?
This person is a monument to Raghu and all those marginal hires.
Interesting he lists Deng Xiao Ping as #1. Could it be because he was his boss when he was in China? What a coincidence! Kind of like being one of Suharto’s “Berkley Mafia” (his team of economic pragmatists made up of five UC Berkeley econ grads!) during the 1990s. LOL!
Being thwarted: Ya think the guy's personality has something to do with it?
Why post this other than to be a jerk? Howard is hurting nobody now.
I'd say that the instructor profiled here is damaging many people, not the least of whom are his students. Have you seen the materials cited here? His syllabus? the depiction of his "grand" past? There is something seriously wrong here.
Think about how female students might feel about some of Howard's characterization of women - included in the documents on his official college faculty page.
But, of course, there is a history in this district of tolerating male faculty's insults and discriminatory acts against female students, staff and colleagues - so no wonder they let him get away with this.
Before I posted this, It did occur to me that doing so would be pointless. But then I remembered the things this man did to so many good people. (And, by the way, to me.) And, judging by his website, it appears that Howard hasn't changed. Further, Howard represents the corruption of the old regime, what with the peculiar fashion in which they credited his part-time teaching toward his full-time tenure. If the truth about Howard discomforts him (and you, oh brave Anonymous 9:25), rest assured that I will speak it.
10:36: how grotesque to see one of my favorite Teddy Roosevelt quotations used in reference to the hideous Howard Gensler. I remember encountering this guy back in grad school, at UCI, and thinking, "What the f---?" Anyone pursuing 5 B.A.'s and mentioning it at every opportunity has something seriously amiss in his value system. The word "meretricious" may have been invented just for him.
HUMILITY is a virtue. The most accomplished often possess it. The charlatan HG does not, putting it mildly. His braggadocio is gross, unseemly, sad, and disgusting.
MAH
According to his syllabi, Howard holds TWO office hours per week. Can I hold TWO office hours per week too? Please?
I have known Howard for over 25 years. Any student of his is fortunate to have him as an instructor the moment they show up to class. Leave your hankies at home. Do not pretend to have an ego. Howard is not your daddy's junior college instructor. He IS original. He IS smart. He HAS the education and private, governmental, and international experiences necessary to jolt your ass out of a typical OC slumber and into a new world of ideas and disequilibrium. He is different, but never phony. He is loyal, incorruptible, and a lover of truth and honest people. Get your work boots on or else you are doomed to play the whiner and fool like several others who have logged on here with little to say. Howard is about ideas, not popularity.
He's delusional. He insults women. he doesn't lectures as much as he rants.
AND he tells his kids they can park using his staff pass.
He doesn't insults women, he insults everyone who is stupid. I am a female student of his and I have nothing but the greatest things to say about Howard. I learned so much from him and he is a man of great intelligence. Yes, he may brag about pursuing 5 degrees, but I see people everyday bragging about things that don't matter, that won't help anyone else, at least he uses his knowledge to help his students and further their education. Also, there are more than one Howard Gensler in the world, those books you are showing was written by a different man. All of Howard's books have something to do with politics, economy or something in the subject.
I don't think an instructor should "insult" anyone - that is one problem with Gensler's pedagogy. The fact that he has convinced a student like you that this is somehow appropriate classroom behavior is another. The idea that this kind of instruction is tolerated is yet anotehr problem.
But is it acceptable for people to insult Howard on the internet? Howard didn't convinced me that it was okay to insult anyone, I am a grown woman and I am have my own mind of I believe it is acceptable or not, as well os yourself, right?
* I am a grown woman and I am have my own mind of what I believe it is acceptable or not, as well as yourself, right?
Oh Howard gensler for those who don't know the truth about the real you Write only what they see only what they see on the surface they have opened the book long enough to get to sweet caring side that does exist and if they knew you like I know you they would love you as much as I do :)ds
He's just an insane genius - it runs in our family. The whole lot of us are mad. I found out after $10,000 and years of therapy, just what I have, as well as everybody else in the family, except for maybe Howard and my brother. He probably doesn't know that he's special, but if he ever woke up, he might begin to change how he treats the people around him, and realize relationships are paramount to everything. One benefit you from his particular type of madness, is the ability and patience to absorb and memorize tons of material, but the disadvantage you get is you're basically a total asshole around other people, hence his limited engagements at various organizations. A person in history who comes to mind though, who was similar to Howard, at least in the failure and keep on trying department, is Abraham Lincoln. The problem you have is that Howard thinks on a big scale, but he keeps getting stuck with small jobs. The other problem he always had as well, was a wife and kids at home, that he needed to support, in spite of his lofty dreams.
Howard is akin to Abraham Lincoln?!?
What I said was in the "failure and keep on trying department", Howard is similar to Abraham Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln was also a similarly hated individual, who kept on trying in spite of one failure after another, and eventually hit the big time, becoming President of the United States. He probably had some inside help. The only problem is you run out of life span to finally hit the big time. Howard is 55. Times a tickin.
I would say Howard is insane sure enough, but NOT close to being intelligent. An idiot could hang around a college and earn 5 degrees - how stupid is that?
I took MacroEconomics from him in 2008. i LOVED his class! I LOVED his lectures! I LOVED that he held students accountable. And I LOVED his sense of humor.
I recall at the end of the semester, when he handed out the grades on the mandatory 10 page paper, he admonished the class, "This is the worst pile of papers I have ever seen in my entire career as a teacher. And for what it's worth, it is NEVER appropriate to use curse words in a college paper!".
I nearly died...........I almost went to see him after class to offer him $500 to read the worst of the class papers. But I decided not to.
Insane? ye. Genius? NO
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