Jim Rynning was a student studying physics at a large Midwestern university when his studies were interrupted, first by World War II and later the Korean War, a military career, and family.<\/p>\n
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Now at age 89, Rynning has completed all of the upper division physics courses at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, earning the respect of students and faculty alike. He recently earned a special Chancellor\u2019s Award for his demonstration of life-long learning.<\/p>\n
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\u201cJim is simply amazing,\u201d James Burkhart, associate dean, College of Letters Arts and Sciences and professor of physics, said. \u201cHe not only goes to class, he sits in the front row and even laughs at the professor\u2019s jokes!\u201d<\/p>\n
At nearly six feet tall and sporting a white crew cut, Rynning is a fixture on the UCCS campus, completing courses in history, physics and philosophy for more than a decade as well as being an active participant in Curiosity Unlimited, a campus-based program designed to improve interaction between the public and university faculty.<\/p>\n
\u201cMonday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, I open the downtown YMCA at 5 a.m.,\u201d Rynning said recently. \u201cTuesdays and Thursdays are my university days.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rynning participated in a \u201clistening in\u201d program offered by the university for senior citizens. The program allows individuals more than 55 years old, on a space available basis, to participate in college courses, usually by listening to faculty lectures and participating in discussions. Rynning not only participated in class discussions, he completed assignments and took required tests.\u00a0 More than once, he purchased books as gifts for his classmates, some of whom are 70 years his junior.<\/p>\n
Rynning wouldn\u2019t have had it any other way.<\/p>\n
\u201cI butter up the guys with a calendar or something and the ladies with candy,\u201d Rynning said. \u201cIt\u2019s not a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
What\u2019s next for the retired Air Force colonel who cruises Colorado Springs in a yellow VW bug?<\/p>\n
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\u201cI hear they\u2019ve got some new courses in quantum mechanics,\u201d Rynning said. \u201cI\u2019ll be back next fall.\u201d<\/p>\n
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UCCS, located on Austin Bluffs Parkway in Colorado Springs, is one of the fastest growing universities in the nation. The University offers 30 bachelor\u2019s degrees, 19 masters\u2019, and four doctoral degrees. The campus enrolls about 8,000 students annually.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Jim Rynning was a student studying physics at a large Midwestern university when his studies were interrupted, first by World War II and later the Korean War, a military career, and family. \u00a0 Now at (Full Press Release)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pressreleases"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressreleases.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressreleases.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressreleases.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressreleases.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressreleases.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pressreleases.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressreleases.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressreleases.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressreleases.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}