Making the transition from the political hot spot of the nation's capital to the slower pace of rural New Hampshire would seem like an illogical step for a government professor.
Yet visiting Georgetown University Government Professor Christopher Joyner has done just that, fleeing Washington D.C., for his second summerto come teach at the College.
"They asked me if I would be interested in coming, and it's worked such that each of those years I had the opportunity available," he said.
The quality of the students at Dartmouth is one of the reasons he enjoys coming here in the summer, Joyner said.
"They are first rate," he said. "It's hard to tell how much they work, but I know in terms of their performance in the classroom and also on my exams I find them to be among the best groups of students I have ever had."
Joyner, who is teaching Government 59, International Law, and Government 7, International Politics, developed his appreciation for world events at an early age.
Students find Joyner's knowledge as well as class structure enriching.
"His class is really refreshing because he saves time at the end of each class to discuss what he has gone over in class," Jennifer Guy '97 said.
Denali Kemppel '96, a student in Joyner's Government 59 class, said, "Because he has so muchknowledge of international law he is able to present both the theoretical and pragmatic view."
The son of an army officer, Joyner spent most of his childhood until the age of 10 living abroad in countries like Italy and Japan.
"That experience gave me a real appreciation for international relations and different cultures," Joyner said. "I was surrounded by peoples of all colors and all nationalities and the army in the mid-50s didn't discriminate. I went to school with Greeks and Turks and Italians."
Joyner also grew up in Florida, and received his bachelor of arts and two masters degrees, one in international law and the other in government, from Florida State University.
"In terms of forming my values, moving to Florida in the late 50s certainly had an impact, because it was still very conservative, and it was still very much of a segregated society," Joyner said.
Joyner's non-professional claim to fame is his more than 5,000 full collection of all types ofautographs, which includes a baseball signed by all the 1927 Yankees.
"It started when I was eight or nine years old, I began by writing to people and I eventually started going to Broadway shows and all-timers day baseball games," Joyner said. "I still make it a habit to get autographs.It's fun and it's a nice souvenir."
His desire to collect autographs led Joyner to the world of breaking and entering -- rock concerts, that is.
"I would dress up in a coat and tie and say that I was the manager of bands." He added that he could list at least a hundred concerts he had crashed.
"It was fun to do because you got a sense of what it was like backstage, and you realize that they are all human," Joyner said.
He considers two events his all-time favorites.
"In 1968 I crashed a reception for Walt Disney in Orlando, Fla., and I was carrying a clipboard with a picture that was sent to me by somebody in Disney World," Joyner said.
The event was a governor's reception at the Chair Plaza Hotel, and Joyner met up with the media giant as he was walked through the crowd saying hello.
Joyner said he just went up to Disney and said "It's a pleasure to meet you sir. Would you mind signing this for me?"
His other favorite story is a much more personal event that involves Pearl Buck, the author of "The Good Earth."
Joyner set up the story by relating how his father acquired a copy of "The Good Earth" from a Nazi bunker in World War II.
"Pearl Buck visited Orlando, and I came down and asked her to autograph it to my father and I told her the story," Joyner said "She was flabbergasted that out of all the souvenirs my father could have gotten, he brought back this copy of 'The Good Earth,' and it was still in pretty good shape."
Out of this background Joyner developed an interest in international law and politics, particularly laws governing Antarctica.
"I am probably one of the top three people in the United States in terms of knowledge of Antarctica, law and politics of Antarctica and law of the sea," Joyner said. He offered that sounds egotistical, but is nonetheless true.
He explained his area of expertise deals with the law and politics in administering the activities in the Antarctic, and the Antarctic region is one-tenth of the earth's surface.
Joyner said he became interested in Antarctica because "I had a long time interest in the 1970s on the law of the sea and when those negotiations were ending, I went to find another research area that combined issues involving the law of the sea and common areas of mankind."
The two areas he found were outer space and Antarctica, and out of the two he said Antarctica was more interesting.
He has yet to visit the area that occupies so much of his time, however, having only had the opportunity to fly over the Antarctic.
He added he also does work on economic sanctions and on Middle Eastern issue relating to international law and terrorism.
Joyner said he tries to incorporate his work into the classroom and that he will be lecturing to his class on Antarctica soon.
One of Joyner's students pointed to an interesting facet of his teaching methods.
"He always makes allusions to Harrison Ford and he mentioned the movie 'Patriot Games'," Guy said. " He said during the CIA scene, he is in the background."
Joyner simply said he had no comment about that issue and then laughed.
Asked about his popularity amongst his students, Joyner said, "I try to relate to them, I respect them as individuals and in turn they will respect me as a professor."
"My job is not to intimidate, my job is to teach and to share with them what I have learned and I always learn something new from them," he said.
