SIUE Alumnus Stan Ford inducted into 2011 Hall of Fame
Even thousands of miles away at a university in Austria, SIUE Alumnus Stan Ford said he applies his SIUE-learned knowledge straight to his own students.
Stan Ford, pianist and inductee into SIUE's 2011 Alumni Hall of Fame
This year, the university inducted Ford into its 2011 Alumni Hall of Fame for his accomplishments since obtaining his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from SIUE. Ford said SIUE offered just about everything he wanted in a college — affordability, a challenge and the opportunity to study under one of his most respected pianists, Ruth Slenczynska.
“This school provided me with a lot of individual help that I probably wouldn’t have gotten at a lot of other schools,” Ford said. “The teachers were extremely interested in making sure that the students were given as much knowledge as they could hand out. That could be different from other schools with lots of students in one classroom where you’re nothing but a number there. I am very grateful for the personalized education that I received and it made me competitive just as any other school would have.”
Ford said he is excited that he can have the same impact on the students that study under him in Austria as the professors at SIUE had on him when he was a student. In addition to being in the Hall of Fame, in 2009, he received the International Achievement Award from the National Association of Negro Musicians, Great Minds of the 21st Century Award 2010, listed under 2000 Outstanding Intellectuals of the 21st Century Award 2010, Who’s Who in the World 2010, and International Profiles of Accomplished Leaders 2011.
Now, Ford is teaching as much as he can at the Universität Mozarteum Salzburg in Austria.
“One of my colleagues mentioned that when he walks down the hall, he hears other professors yelling at their students to do this, do that and blah blah blah, and he walks by my door and hears lots of laughing. And that yelling is a big difference from what I had learned in the states,” he said. “I feel that the SIUE teachers encourage the students to do their best and here, many of the teachers beat the students down to make them subservient. And I said, well, this is not the method I want to teach. I want to inspire my students to work hard and not imprison them, and it seems to be working.”
Ford had been contacted by SIUE telling him he would be considered for the Hall of Fame the past few years, but that he had given up hope because he was not inducted until now. Even so, he said he is extremely humbled that he can have his picture up on the wall next to other SIUE alumni who he said have done much greater things than him.
Filed Under: Music
