History professor gives 'Bs' during master's degree ceremony

Hyer, the speaker for the first of CSC’s two commencement ceremonies, did not issue the Bs as grades, however. He instead told the graduates to “be bold,” “be creative,” “be optimistic,” and “be mindful of others.”

The last of the four, which he said is all about relationships, is most important, he said.

“It’s been said that people may forget about what you’ve said to them, but they will never forget how you made them feel,” he said.

Hyer used observations from Henry Cloud’s book “Integrity,” while encouraging the students to be mindful of others.

In the book, Cloud relates person’s approach to relationships to wakes on the water. Some wakes leave people “bobbing for air, bleeding and left wounded as shark bait,” Hyer said, while others are the source of a great time for those enjoying their presence with water skiing and other enjoyable water sports.

In making his other points, Hyer told about prominent events in history.

About being bold, Hyer recited the proverb “A smooth sea never made a skillful mariner,” and spoke about the feats of an English war minister, William Pitt, during the French and Indian War. Pitt, who spoke the words “I know that I can save England and no one else can” to the British Parliament, led England to victory in every major confrontation after his appointment, despite the country’s miserable failures in the first few years of the war.

“Don’t wallow in self-pity about how unfair life is,” Hyer said. “Instead, stand tall, don’t be afraid to fail – after all, failure is not fatal.”

As an example of creativity, Hyer also told about the French in World War I using taxi cab drivers to get troops to the front at the river Marne in a successful last ditch stand.

He also spoke about the observations of Sir Ken Robinson, who wrote a book about creativity.

“Instead of asking ‘How intelligent are you?,” he prefers to ask ‘How are you intelligent?’” the professor said.

Optimism is a learned behavior, he said, noting that people can always control how they view things.

He said most would rather be around optimistic people than pessimistic ones, and that those who have a “glass is half full” approach live longer and yield greater performance results.

In addition to teaching, Hyer serves as chairman of CSC’s Department of Communication and Social Sciences and director of the American Indian studies program.

Before moving to the Nebraska panhandle, he taught history courses at the University of California at Riverside, San Diego State University, and California State University at San Marcos.

He has several publications to his name, including a scholarly article that was nominated for an award sponsored by the Army Historical Foundation. His most well-known work, he said, is arguably his dissertation, which was later modified into a book, “We Are Not Savages: Native Americans in Southern California and the Pala Reservation, 1840-1920.” It was published by Michigan State University Press in 2001.

Hyer is a native of Los Angeles County. In 1999, he received a doctorate from the University of California at Riverside, with a major in Native American history and minors in 20th century U.S. History and colonial Latin American history.

CSC awarded 311 degrees on Saturday, 49 of which were master’s degrees.