Biographical Text
Professor Emeritus of Political Science/Criminal Justice Roland Frederick Moy (February 29, 1936-), was born the sixth of seven children and was the first in his family to be born in a hospital rather than at home. Raised on a dairy farm near Mondovi, Wisconsin, Moy attended, for eight years, a one-room elementary school a mile-and-a-half walk from his home. In 1954, he was the valedictorian in a class of seventeen at Gilmanton High School, some eight miles from the farm. Moy married Gilmanton schoolmate Jean Victoria Brotzman (April 20, 1938-) on December 22, 1957, and the couple had two children. Rhonda Jean (October 28, 1964-) is married to Brian Burgess and is now completing a master's degree and National Board Certification while working full-time in the Morganton public schools. Rhonda Jean and Bryan have one son, Andrew (October 21, 1993-). Randall Frederick (May 22, 1967-) and his wife, Tina, have one son, Nathan (September 14, 1993-). Randall is a career Navy man now stationed at Pearl Harbor. Moy's present wife, Barbara, is a retired elementary school teacher who has two daughters. Rhonda Lynn (July 28, 1954-) is married to Jeffrey Lawrence, and the couple has two children, Lindsay (July 9, 1982-) and Blair (March 3, 1984-). Sherry Elizabeth (July 2, 1964-) has one daughter, Chasten Sparks (November 16, 1986-), and works in sales in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Moy attended Wisconsin State University-Eau Claire for one year on a scholarship in a pre-engineering program. He worked full-time for three years and was drafted into the Army in the fall of 1958, serving two years as an operating-room assistant. Moy returned to Wisconsin State University-Eau Claire in 1960 to begin a major in political science and he finished his B.S. degree in 1963. He then attended the Ohio State University, earning an M.A. degree and a Ph.D. degree in political science. While at Ohio State, Moy was a teaching assistant for three years. He was an assistant professor at East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, for two years before joining the Department of Political Science at Appalachian State University in 1970. After serving as an assistant professor from 1970 through 1974, Moy was promoted to associate professor in 1974 and full professor in 1978. During his academic career, Dr. Moy strove to vary his students' learning experiences in attempts to improve the classroom learning environment. He was responsible for developing study guides for American government students and believed in the use of structured discussion sessions to enable all students to participate. Moy also administered comparative evaluation instruments to determine which instructing techniques worked best in the classroom, and he presented the results of this research at the Southern Political Science Association convention in 1977. During thirty years of teaching experience, he had occasion to prepare numerous courses, including those on comparative politics, parliamentary democracies, international politics, governments and politics of western Europe, government and politics of the Soviet Union and eastern Europe, politics of Africa south of the Sahara, and politics of Latin America. Among the seminars Moy conducted were ones on comparative politics, on political stability and violence, and on ethnic conflict and political development. In 1977, Moy obtained a grant from Appalachian State's Center for Instructional Development (CID) to aid in building a computer program for a modified INS simulation game he had developed. He also received grants from CID in 1979 and 1981 for revision of the American Government individualized instruction package. His teaching efforts were recognized in 1990 and 1998 when he was nominated for the Outstanding Teacher Award. He was also honored as an Outstanding Educator of America. Dr. Moy was active in several university organizations, serving as faculty senator on the Faculty Welfare and Morale Committee, on the Academic Policy Committee, and on the Budget Committee (chair). He was the Graduate Faculty Recorder in 1973, was a member of the Arts and Sciences Committee "Project Lodestar" on instructional development (1983-84), and was a member of the Arts and Sciences Baccalaureate Task Force. Moy was also responsible for organizing symposiums on Middle East politics (1980), South African politics (1981), and on Israel and Lebanon (1982). Additionally, he organized lectures by visiting United Nations officials from 1985 to 1989, and by other speakers from 1990 through 1997. Moy's student-service activities included acting as advisor to the Political Science Association; to the International Relations Association, an organization which developed from a local interest group into a nationally active organization, with a university budget of over $2000; and to Pi Sigma Alpha, National Political Science Honor Society. In addition, Moy organized high school Model United Nations conferences from 1971 to 1997 and college Model United Nations conferences from 1982 to 1997. Moy provided further consultation services on Model United Nations Simulation to area junior and senior high school teachers and their students from 1971 to 1998. Dr. Moy also delivered talks and led discussion sessions for community organizations in Boone, North Carolina, and area cities, including annual presentations on international politics for the "Great Decisions" program. Professor Moy's research efforts include numerous projects and presentations, and his professional alliances include memberships in the American Political Science Association, the North Carolina Political Science Association, the International Studies Association (vice president of ISA/SW 1993-95, program chair 1995-97, and president 1997-99), the United Nations Association-USA, and the Society for International Development. Moy also served as president-elect and president of the Appalachian chapters of AAUP and NCAE. He was selected to serve a two-year term (1976-78) on the executive committee of the North Carolina Conference of the AAUP; he was president-elect in 1979 and became president in 1980. Over the years, Dr. Moy maintained a family interest in music. His parents and siblings all played instruments and sang in solo and group performances. Moy has been in several barbershop quartets, including the Mountainaires, a group made up of Appalachian State faculty (all now retired) that has been actively entertaining for twenty-five years. He continues to play trombone and sing with local bands, playing big band and dixieland tunes. For the past twenty-three years, Moy has organized a barbershop quartet show in Boone and for twenty-five years has been a member of the Winston-Salem barber-shop group. He has been active since 1972 in the International Barbershop Harmony Society, a nonprofit educational organization which also provides assistance in speech therapy among its service projects. Moy also served as a faculty advisor to newly organized barbershop singing clubs at Appalachian State in 1998. In addition to his academic and musical pursuits, Dr. Moy has maintained a participatory interest in athletic and sports activities. These have included tennis, basketball, distance running, and automobile racing. Moy can still be found playing full court basketball with the noon faculty group on campus. He has, for now, suspended racing his classic car across the Nevada desert at 180-mile-per-hour speeds. He finds that working on the car is not unlike the maintenance he used to do on farm machinery. Since 1992, Moy has been a member of the Watauga County Arts Council and has assisted in the planning of special events. These have included the Christmas tour of homes, an international festival for area school students, and a capella festival for high school and college students in western North Carolina. Since 1997, Moy has organized the summer High Country Jubilee Chorus for community singers of all ages. Since her retirement, Mrs. Moy has been active with the Appalachian Cultural Museum and tutoring students. The Moys both enjoy traveling in their motor home and now spend winter months in warmer climates. Sources: Appalachian State University files and long association. -Dr. Richard D. Howe
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