Astronomy Professor Shares Enthusiasm

Wes Knight

Staff Writer

Joe Polen built his first radio telescope when he was still in high school. More than 40 years later, he continues working on projects in his spare time in his work shop at home.

Polen’s enthusiasm for astronomy is shared with his students as he greets them each class.

“I like to think of you as all my stars,” he said smiling.

Student Laura Irwin was excited when Polen helped her with a new telescope she purchased. Irwin said she brought it to school on a Saturday and Polen showed her how to use it. They looked at leaves across campus.

“It was a lot of fun,” she said.

Polen helped restore an old tube radio owned by Board member Judi Beck. He said Beck listened to the radio as a child and was very happy to have in working order once again.

Born in 1946 in Akron, Ohio, Pollen lived on Orion Lane until he was 14 years old.

“I remember riding my bike at night through the fire flies pretending I was riding through the stars,” said Polen.

His grandparents came to the United States from Germany after World War II in the early 1920s.

When Polen and his parents moved from Ohio they moved to Phoenix, Arizona and then to Florida where he lived for about a year and then moved back to Phoenix. Polen and his family then moved to Shingletown and he completed his last year of high school at Enterprise in Redding. Polen then attended Shasta College for two years and went on to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo where he first majored in electronic engineering and then changed his major to physics during his third year. In 1971, Polen graduated from Cal Poly with a bachelors of science in physics. He moved back to Redding and built molecular models for one of the chemistry teachers at Shasta College in early 1975.

In 1976 Polen started teaching part-time at Red Bluff High School in the out-reach program for Shasta College and while he was teaching part-time he started working on his masters degree at Chico State.

Polen graduated from Chico State with a masters of arts in physical science in 1981.

He started full time at Shasta College that same year. Pollen landed the job at Shasta College because of his diverse education in physics, electronics, and astronomy. That’s what Shasta College wanted.

After 37 years as a professor at Shasta College, Polen has only missed ten sick days. His classes are always full and he turns no student away.

Polen was the first instructor at Shasta College to win the Excellent Educator Award. The plague hangs prominently in the administrative building lobby.

Polen continues to enhance his skills by taking numerous short courses to stay current on the subjects he teaches. Polen often tapes the courses and puts them on VHS for students to borrow so they can understand how things work.

The short courses are very hand-on and allow the teachers to learn more about the specific areas that they teach.

In his spare time Polen writes a column for the Record Searchlight called northern lights that provides facts on the stars and planets and when you can see them.

Polen currently teaches astronomy, physics, and engineering. If you get the chance take one of his classes I would recommend it because you will learn a lot from him.