Josef Fox

The University of Northern Iowa has a robust general education program that challenges students to think critically and explore a variety of foundational subjects. The program has experienced many evolutions over the years, but long-time professor Josef Fox can be thanked for playing a key role in developing the program in the mid-twentieth century.

Fox, who began teaching the Department of English and Speech at the Iowa State Teachers College in 1947, was part of a nine-person committee in 1949 that established new teacher education curriculum that expanded general education requirements, a move university archivist and historian Irving Hart called "clearly the most important single action of the Iowa State Teachers College faculty in all the history of the institution.” 

Fox was especially instrumental in the required humanities course, which he taught until his retirement. He continued to be outspoken about the importance of general education when the university was reexamining the program years later.

In the classroom, Fox epitomized the student-centered teaching mentality that continues to be central to the Panther experience. He was known for challenging his students’ ideas, ultimately encouraging them to think critically. One of his former students reflected on the fact that Fox always made sure to challenge his students in a way that showed he still respected them. His students were not limited to those on campus. In the 1950s, he offered a humanities telecourse through WOI-TV, which more than 30,000 people viewed.

“In a sense, Joe represented the whole breadth of UNI education, in his commitment, his passion, his work,” said David Crownfield, a colleague of Fox’s who taught philosophy and religion.

He was also a staunch advocate of academic freedom and free speech, consistently criticizing university policy and decisions by writing a column in the student paper. However, he never let his criticisms get in the way of the duty he felt to his students.

“Good criticism requires that the critic should love the thing that he criticizes, and that he should harbor the rationalist illusion that all that is needed to set anything right is for some insightful mind to point out clearly what that right is,” Fox wrote in a letter to a friend.

Fox was one of the leaders who organized a UNI chapter of the American Federation of Teachers in 1968 and became the first president of United Faculty when the faculty union was certified in 1976. The organization recently observed its 50th anniversary.

Fox was so beloved that students recognized him with the Favorite Teacher award three times during his time at UNI. On his last day teaching classes in 1979 before retirement, students hung a sign declaring the occasion “Joe Fox Day” as a celebration of his “students first” teaching philosophy.