When John Prucha had a question or concern he wanted addressed, he didn’t reach for the phone.

Instead, the Syracuse University vice chancellor visited the college or faculty members to talk about the issue in person.

“He would sit down and say, ‘I’m concerned about this,’” said Cathryn Newton, dean emerita of the College of Arts and Sciences and a professor of interdisciplinary sciences. “He immediately led with what he wanted to say.”

And while his remarks sometimes got mixed responses, most admired his approach, Newton said.

“Whether you liked it or hated it, what won him so much respect was that he always talked directly about whatever was concerning him,” she said. “He didn’t have a hidden agenda.”

John James Prucha, former vice chancellor of Academic Affairs at SU, died Monday night in Syracuse at 88. During his more than 20-year career at the university, Prucha served as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and twice as chair of the earth sciences department. He also oversaw the construction of the Heroy Geology Building and the Carrier Dome, according to a Tuesday SU News release.

The construction of the geology building was a particularly important project for Prucha, who first joined the university as a geology professor, said Jeffrey Karson, chair of the earth sciences department.

When Prucha visited the university a year ago for an alumni open house, Karson said he was able to show Prucha, who was then using a wheelchair, all the changes that had been made to the geology building since its construction.

“It was a pleasure to escort him and show him the changes,” Karson said. “He was the one who designed the whole building.”

It was this sense of history that Prucha brought to his tenure as chair of the earth sciences department, Karson said. The department has a long history at SU, going back to the first chancellor, Alexander Winchell, who was also a geologist.

While Prucha understood the department’s historical roots, he was also always looking ahead. Prucha’s master’s and doctorate students conducted research on many topics “ahead of their time,” Karson said.

But regardless of the research topic, Karson said, Prucha guided all of his students — one of whom is the vice president of Exxon Mobil Corp. and another, Michael Thonis, who is an SU trustee — with the same focus and dedication.

“He really mentored them in ways that allowed them to take off in their careers,” he said.

Prucha’s student-centered approach also extended to his time as department chair, Newton said. He made sure students had special educational opportunities, such as field work, available to them and encouraged close relationships between students and faculty.

Even after Prucha left his position as vice chancellor and returned to teaching, he would often pile into a van with nine or 10 students and drive to geological sites all over the country, Newton said.

But regardless of where he was, Prucha rarely stopped teaching.

His son, Stephen Prucha, a 1974 SU graduate, said he remembers his father as a “consummate educator” who was always teaching both his students at SU and his own children.

“He liked to sit around and have fun, but in the end it all came back to educating,” he said.

John Prucha was always educating himself too. As a geologist, his idea of a family trip was to “look at rocks” in the places his family, made up of 10 children, visited on vacation, Stephen Prucha recalled.

This love of research extended to SU, where he emphasized fundamental research both in his own career as a geologist and his time as an administrator, Stephen Prucha said.

But despite the many positions he held at SU, John Prucha never fit just one title, Newton said.

“He was a lot more than that,” she said. “He was someone with a lot of humanity and humor.”

Published on October 24, 2012 at 2:07 am

Contact Jessica: jliannet@syr.edu | @JessicaIannetta