Teacher and Scholar
In 1966, Ken Megill graduated with a Ph.D. degree in philosophy from Yale University at the age of 26. When he graduated he was widely recruited by universities throughout the country. He chose a public university and went to join the rapidly expanding University of Florida Department of Philosophy.
He joined a vigorous group of scholars and teachers who worked together to build one of the most popular departments in the university. The entire faculty who joined him in 1966 became active teachers, researchers and members of the community.
In 1968, he was selected in the first group of scholars to receive National Endowment for the Humanities Grants and he was the first American scholar invited to work at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Budapest. In Hungary he worked closely with the “Luckacs School” led by Georg Lukacs, one of the giants in European philosophy and literature. While there he began writing his first book, The New Democratic Theory, which was published by Free Press, then a division of Macmillan, in 1970.
When he returned to Florida, he became active in the social and political life of the times. He was a popular speaker and teacher. His classes were filled to the brim and in 1969 he was elected the Outstanding Teacher in the College of Arts and Sciences by a vote of the students.
Despite universal and unanimous support of Megill's colleagues on the faculty, the newly appointed President of the University (a politician with no academic experience) moved forcefully and publicly to remove him from the university. The first attempt failed and Megill was featured in major stories in the Sunday supplements of both the Tampa Tribune and the Miami Herald in 1970.
His writing, teaching and speaking continued and he became active in developing the United Faculty of Florida. The President terminated his contract with the University in 1972 and a long, protracted public and legal controversy continued for years, while Ken Megill moved on to build a statewide faculty organization.
He returned to the classroom from 1992-1997 as a faculty member in the School of Library and Information Science at The Catholic University of America.
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