After 58 years of teaching, new ‘possibilities’ keep professor Harry Lambright young

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Professor Harry Lambright taught his last undergraduate course in December 2023. He was not planning to tell his students the end of class would mark the end of nearly 58 years of teaching.

His son, Nathaniel Lambright, who made a surprise appearance, stood up and announced his father’s retirement to the undergraduate students. The room erupted in applause.

“I didn’t say to give a round of applause,” Nathaniel said. “I think they genuinely gave that round of applause for the right reasons.”

Lambright, 84, has taught at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs since 1966 as a professor of political science, public administration and international affairs. For the last few semesters, Lambright taught two graduate courses — Science, Technology and Public Policy and Energy, Environment, and Resources Policy — and one undergraduate course — Technology, Politics, and the Environment— in SU’s Public Administration and International Affairs Department.

“We spend all this time going to the Dome and cheering on awesome athletes, but we don’t spend enough time cheering on the great professors,” Nathaniel said.

Throughout his professional career, Lambright has conducted research in technology and public policy, environmental policy as well as science. With his research, he has written and edited eight books. He has also written hundreds of articles, papers and reports according to the IBM Center.

Lambright said he cannot pinpoint when he fell in love with writing. As an only child raised by a widowed mother who was often at work, he found himself alone with his thoughts. When he felt lonely, he invented stories.

“It became clear to me and to other people around me that I had a skill to do something that came easily to me and was difficult for most people,” Lambright said.

While his passion for his work keeps him vibrant, Lambright said he owes his resiliency to the relationships he built along the way.

“When you’re trying to do things, you can do a certain amount of things by yourself, but most of the time you need other people,” Lambright said. “I’m really proud of the people that work for me. They’re good and they give me energy.”

Undergraduate and graduate students assist Lambright in his research pursuits. Lambright’s assistants do their own research as well as organize articles which Lambright finds.

Cassandra Roshu | Photo Editor

In 2020, Lambright received a grant from NASA, which he has used to study the role of satellites and sea level rise. Even after the grant ends in March, he hopes to continue his research to study issues surrounding space pollution and debris, as well as old satellites that finished their mission but are still in orbit.

Prior to his professorship, Lambright served as a special assistant to the Office of University Affairs and a member of the History Advisory Committee at NASA, according to the IBM Center. Years later, one of his student research assistants at SU, Dayana Bobko, followed in his footsteps and was hired by NASA as an operations research analyst.

Bobko worked as an undergraduate research assistant under Lambright for three years before becoming his graduate research assistant, where she continued to work with him on policy studies and public-private partnership studies. They spent a minimum of 20 hours a week together, if not more, she said.

Bobko credits her career at NASA to her time spent with Lambright, which developed her interest in space policy — a field she had never previously considered.

“I would never have put myself out there like this if it wasn’t for him,” Bobko said. “And now I love my job. I love what I do, and I’m really thankful to him.”

Bobko said Lambright inspires his mentees and students to view topics from unique perspectives, as well as encouraging them to slow down despite their instinct to rush to the next thing.

“I think a lot of times we rush through things or try to get a deadline done,” Bobko said. “But he always really put in the extra effort to make sure what he was writing was thoughtful, correct and valuable to people that were reading it.”

At a point in his career where most people choose to retire, Lambright has maintained a consistent desire to read, research, teach and learn, Bobko said. In a conversation with the professor, Bobko recalls Lambright telling her he was starting to write a new book.

“Why not? What else am I gonna do?” Bobko recalled Lambright joking.

Nine years later, Bobko and Lambright continue to check in on each other every three months and meet for coffee when possible.

“A lot of connections will at some point in your life kind of fade out, even ones you thought you would stay in touch with for a long time,” Bobko said. “But this seems like one that has stood the test of time for us.”

Dayana Bobko (left) with Professor Harry Lambright (right) at Bobko’s graduation from Maxwell. When Lambright was randomly assigned to be her undergraduate advisor, she had no idea that he would inspire her to pursue a career in spacy policy, Bobko said.

Courtesy of Dayana Bobko

Throughout his years as a professor, the job has become less robotic and more based on intuition, Lambright said. He described his lectures as a combination of pre-prepared material and ideas that spontaneously came to him. Lambright said he values utilizing his passions to evoke excitement in himself, which is beneficial to his students.

With his “quirky” and “fun, family reunion” sense of humor, it was easy and comfortable to talk to Lambright, said Kincaid Leonard, one of Lambright’s teacher assistants during his final semester.

“I don’t know if I’ll ever be that friendly because it seems like it’s a lot of energy,” Leonard said. “But I don’t think it’s a lot of energy for him. I think he loves it.”

The material Lambright used within his undergraduate course, “Technology, Politics, and the Environment,” came from a diverse range of topics and was not a standard class curriculum, Leonard said.

“I have a long way to go to figure out exactly my style (of teaching) or what I want to do,” Leonard said. “I think he is going to be the first step in that path of figuring out what my teaching style is, and who I’m going to be as a professor — if I do go down that route.”

With his family and research, it was clear that Lambright has a full life outside of his professorship. Yet, he always arrived fully prepared, Leonard said.

In the past, Lambright had offers to become a dean but turned them down to continue putting all of his energy into doing what he loves: writing.

“The real problem you have when you get older is that you start losing people that you’ve been close to over the years,” Lambright said. “You become very aware that every day is a gift and that you want to spend it a little differently than you did when you were striving to become a success.”

One of the most important lessons Lambright’s students taught him was the “promise of youth.” He said he derives energy from surrounding himself with motivated and bright students whom he can mentor.

“Even though I am getting older and every year I’m older, there are always possibilities open to me,” Lambright said. “Life is full of excitement and new experiences. As long as you feel that way, you’ll stay young.”