Room 203 of the Business Administration Building was dedicated to the late Dr. Ted Mosch, Professor Emeritus of Political Science Nov. 8, 2018, by the university.
Mosch, who passed on July 3, 2018, held careers in the military and higher education. He began working at UTM in 1970 and served the university until 1981 when he left to attend the National War College in Washington D.C.
He served at the United States Army Intelligence Center and School from 1983-88, before returning to UTM until his retirement in 2002.
Mosch received multiple awards in his career including the UT National Alumni Association Outstanding Teaching Award and Distinguished Professorship; the UT Martin Excellence in Advising Award; Outstanding Advising Award and Student Government Association Outstanding Teaching Award; and the UT College of Law Honor for 31 years of pre-law advising.
He also received many military honors and earned the rank of Colonel.
Ross Dickens, Dean of the College of Business and Global Affairs reflected on his time teaching at UTM with Mosch. “Countless, and truly countless, UTM students found their first steps towards successful careers in law, political science and public service under his leadership,” said Dickens. “He was also a highly motivated advocate for international education which is still a part of this college.”
His retirement and this room dedication brought many former students and donors of the Ted Mosch Scholarship Fund back to campus to congratulate and honor him for his contributions to UTM and their lives.
The Ted Mosch Scholarship Fund was established in his honor, which now helps with international students’ tuition. After Mosch passed, Dale Allen, a Nashville attorney, established the Ted Mosch Political Science Scholarship Endowment.
Chancellor Dr. Keith Carver says, “He was just a fantastic man who touched many lives.”
Chris Baxter, chair of the Department of Accounting, Finance, Economics, and Political Science, said, “The beautiful thing about what we’re doing here today, is that we’re going to have generations of students that are coming after who don’t know all the Ted Mosch stories but need to desperately, and to know such a man founded the program that the rest of us are trying to maintain today.”
“When we give speeches about great political figures we use and maybe overuse the quote by Sir Isaac Newton who said that, ‘If I have seen farther it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants.’ Ted Mosch was a giant. You would not know it by seeing him, [but] by meeting him,” Baxter continued.
“He walked humbly, he talked humbly, he was a humble man. But he was a giant because he lifted up so many others… He was one of the most brilliant [men] I’ve ever met. I walk across the campus every day filled with brilliant people and he still remains the most brilliant man I’ve ever met,” Baxter said.
“He used all of his talents and all that he had and all that he knew to lift other people.”
