DePauw Stories

A lot has changed since Gary Lemon arrived at DePauw University.

“There were no computers,” he recalls. “There was no word processing. You had to actually write out things or use a typewriter. And if you wanted to make a duplicate, there was an old mimeograph machine you had to crank.”

Five decades later, his students are no longer cranking machines. They’re talking to machines — and the machines are talking back. “What’s happening now is AI,” says Lemon. “I teach senior seminar, and the students there have to write papers. The question now is: What function does AI have in that process? Do we have to change what we’re doing because of it?”

These are questions the rural Kansas native couldn’t have envisioned when he first arrived in Greencastle in 1976. Growing up on a farm that had originally belonged to his great-great-grandfather, Lemon realized at an early age that he wasn’t cut out to be a farmer. (“Too much work,” he jokes.) Instead, he chose to do what he loved most: go to school.

Fresh off his graduate studies at the University of Kansas, Lemon initially turned down the job offer he’d received from Jerry Warren, chair of DePauw’s economics department at the time. “I told him, ‘Sorry, it doesn't look like it's going to work.’ Jerry asked what it would have taken for me to say yes, so I mentioned a few things and assumed that was that. But about 48 hours later he called back and said, ‘Oh, by the way, we’re going to give you exactly what you want.’”

Since then, Lemon has been a fixture on DePauw’s campus and a pivotal part of many students’ lives. Whether it has been through his work in teaching economics or through his stint at the helm of the Management Fellows program, his objective has remained the same: to give his students a practical, well-rounded foundation that can translate to success in any field they choose to pursue.

“I’m a big believer in the liberal arts,” he says. “I'm not so naïve to think that my theories or the theories of economists are the most important things I teach in class. I want my students to learn how to think. I give them a problem, and I give them tools to take that problem apart. And 20 or 30 years from now, when another problem comes across their desk, they'll say, ‘I've never seen this before. But I know how to think and I know how to use my tools. I can take this apart and come to a reasonable solution.’”

This approach has proven to be an invaluable asset for countless DePauw students in their own academic and professional journeys. After all these years of intentionally investing into young lives, it’s not surprising that Lemon has no shortage of stories to tell about the young people he’s taught and mentored who have gone on to become renowned leaders, innovators and agents of change.

“One of the great benefits of having my job is seeing what former students do,” he says. “The highlight for me is the relationships I have with former students. There are former students that my wife Susan and I now go on vacation with, and to see them and their kids and how their careers have evolved has been a real treat. It's been a lot of fun to see these people go out in the world and succeed.”

Not all of those relationships, however, have been forged in a classroom while discussing the nuances of supply and demand. Throughout his career, Lemon has embraced the opportunities presented by less traditional educational environments. In some cases, this has looked like connecting a promising student to a transformative internship. In other cases, it looks like an up-close encounter with a coral reef.

“For 10 or 12 years, I took students scuba diving during winter term,” says Lemon. “It's one thing for you to be in my class, meeting three hours a week. But when you go on winter term, you literally live with the students. We have breakfast, lunch and dinner. We’re on the boat for four or five hours every day. Some of the people I know best are people who went with me on those winter term trips.”

Lemon’s most recent winter term course was closer to home. For several weeks in his Private Pilot Ground School, he took students to see his own plane and introduced them to everything from aerodynamics to airplane maintenance to air traffic control. It was a one-of-a-kind learning experience — something that Lemon sees as a key feature of a DePauw education.

“We do experiential learning better than anyone else,” he argues. “I think that's a way of distinguishing ourselves. Study abroad, winter terms, internships — those kinds of things have an impact on students' lives.”

As Lemon reflects on the time he’s spent at DePauw and the students he has served along the way, his awareness of his own legacy is overshadowed by the gratitude he feels for everything he has experienced.

“When I think about my life, I'm the luckiest guy in the world,” he says. “Coming to Greencastle, coming to DePauw University and doing the things I’ve done — I can't imagine a better life. For me, it’s been a perfect fit. If I could go back in time, I can't think of any other path I would pick over this one.”

Members of the DePauw community are gathering to honor Gary Lemon this month for his 50 years of service to the university.