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Dr. Stephen E. Jess, Southwestern Michigan College social studies instructor, retired in 2016 after 39 years teaching an estimated 7,000 students.

Before he joined the SMC history faculty in 1977, Dr. Jess, who died March 11 at 84, taught at the University of Nebraska, from which he earned his doctorate and master of arts degree in English history.

“During his time at SMC,” Board of Trustees Chairman Thomas F. Jerdon said at the 49^th Commencement May 7, 2016, his former students became SMC professors (such as Dr. Jeff Dennis, or administrators, such as Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer Brent Brewer). A couple, Becky Moore and I, became SMC trustees.”

“Each one of us here, our legacy won’t be programs, buildings or anything other than individual students whose lives we touched,” President David Mathews said. “Sometimes we do that without even knowing. After 7,000 students, Steve Jess has had a tremendous amount of impact. One I know about by accident. Several years ago I was at Fort Michilimackinac in Mackinaw City. One of the persons in period costume showing us around went to SMC. Her passion for history had been influenced by Dr. Jess. She was living her dream by working in this historical teaching context.”

Despite his long SMC career spanning generations, it almost never started.

“Originally I wasn’t thinking about teaching, but a friend of mine was going to apply (for college) and asked me if I wanted to ride along,” he said. “So I rode along with him. We went to the registrar’s office and they handed me an application. So I filled it out and a week or two later I got a letter saying I was accepted. So I went to school.”

During schooling, Dr. Jess went back to the Navy on temporary active duty teaching summer classes. It was then that he got his first taste of teaching.

“I thought that seemed like it might be something interesting to do,” he said.

Dr. Jess began teaching at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln where he received his Ph.D., but only taught there a few years before transferring to SMC.

“(SMC) said they were looking for someone to chair the social science department and teach history. They got the name wrong; they said “Bowagiac,” he said. “I said I didn’t know where it is but I’ll go there because it was in Michigan. It was a lot closer to the part of the country I wanted to be in.”

It’s something of a coincidence that Dr. Jess ended up in Michigan.

Even his students in Nebraska seemed to think he belonged here.

“I spent a couple years teaching at Plains Community College in Nebraska,” Dr. Jess said. “I’m from Wisconsin, but when I was in Nebraska my students told me I sounded like I didn’t come from around there originally. They said, ‘You sound like you came from somewhere out east like Michigan.’”

“You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,” besides being the March 2026 spring musical, on April 5, 6 and 7, 1979, had the distinction of being the last production in the O’Leary lecture hall, which doubled as the theatre before the Dale A. Lyons Building.

There were large children’s blocks on stage that were props in the play. Dr. Jess stacked them on top of each other and did his whole day’s lecture from atop those blocks.

Dr. Dennis, a former student-turned-colleague, held him in high esteem.

“He is a most gentle and kind colleague, and one of the most diligent instructors on our campus...,” Dr. Dennis once told The Southwester. “While impressively intelligent, he also displays wonderful humility and generosity of spirit. Dr. Steve Jess is a truly good person that I very much have been privileged to know.”

Over the years, Dr. Jess saw the college grow from a few small buildings in the middle of nowhere to the institution of today. While he had to adapt to new technologies, Dr. Jess said teaching remained the same as 30 years before. His favorite part of teaching was the classroom experience – “the interaction with the students and the classroom dynamic which is unique for every class,” he said. “Each class is different and you may do a lot of the same material, but it’s never the same because you are always dealing with a different group of people in each class, each semester.”

Despite decades of experience, Dr. Jess said it did not get easier.

“There’s always work to be done,” he said. “You have to keep up with what’s going on with whatever fields you’re instructing, and there’s lots of administrative stuff you have to do, record keeping, so it keeps you busy.”

When Dr. Jess was not teaching or studying something teaching-related, he liked to collect things, including coins.

After an old colleague got him interested, Dr. Jess acquired quite an extensive collection of 16th and 17th century artifacts, including a piece of paper printed just 40 years after the printing press was invented.

Dr. Jess’ advice to students was simple: “Be there. Go to class. Keep up with the work. Take the exams. If a person does that they should be okay,” he said. “And if you can, develop an interest, if you don’t already have one, in the course you’re taking regardless of what it is. You never know what material you take in courses that might later be of assistance to you.”