Steve Koch, a professor and director of debate, plans to retire at the end of this academic year after spending over three decades at the university.
Koch is among the numerous faculty members who were given an incentive to retire this year. He is 12 years past the normal window slot of retirement and said the timing of the incentive was the perfect opportunity to step back.
“If someone was going to offer me an incentive to leave, it wasn’t going to happen again at 77, or 88,” said Koch. “I probably wouldn’t have retired if it weren’t for that incentive.”
Before Koch joined the faculty team, the university had been going through a similar retirement period, which meant they needed to find a replacement for the department chair soon.
Koch was then hired, initially as an associate professor, then he moved his way up and became a department chair within the next few years.
“It was an interesting transition to come in with a lot of experience and build a new department around new people,” said Koch.
As a professor, Koch engages with students in a manner that is easily understood. His teaching feels “like a conversation,” and he is very “passionate and knowledgeable” about every topic he teaches to students.
Conner Emnett, a junior organizational communications major, said Koch makes students feel like he cares about them as individuals.
“I can tell he cares about his students, and he cares that we get the best education in order for us to succeed,” said Emnett. “I’m definitely going to miss that connection and how he teaches.”
Before teaching at the university, Koch had taught at others. He said the university’s “powerful” debate team drew him in.
“I was attracted to it, and [the reason] I even knew about Capital was because of debate,” said Koch. “There’s nothing like it at other schools. We’re the only division one policy style debate program that has sustained its program in Ohio.”
Koch is filled with pride when talking about the debate team and wants to leave the university with a strong team as part of his lasting legacy.
He said the beauty of debate was how he “was able to interact with the brightest students” who leave “strong legacies in a variety of professions and areas.”
Debate is one of the things Koch will miss most about the university.
“It’s a small, but powerful group,” said Koch. “The kind of leadership that they exercise intellectually at a university is almost impossible to replace.”
Koch hopes the next director is able to fulfill the duties necessary to keep the debate team afloat; however, he is not sure if it will be possible given the low funding the team has currently.
“We’re in a vulnerable position right now, and it will take a commitment from the university to sustain the program,” said Koch.
Koch’s plans after retirement include supporting local debate activities, which is something he has been doing through the university since 2005, with the middle school debate program at Columbus Public Schools. He wants to create a non-profit organization in case the university ends its support for the program.
Outside of debate, he is interested in re-exploring an old interest of his: writing.
“My doctoral studies were based on propaganda, but it was historically based,” said Koch. “The contemporary framework is far more complex in the digital age, and I’m sort of interested in opening that work again.”
Retirement also gives him a chance to spend more time with his wife.
“My wife is very ill,” said Koch. “That was one of the motivators to be able to spend more time taking care of her.”
