When I think about the teachers who made a difference in my life, Diana Ahmad is one that sticks out in my memory. She is the one who convinced me, and a great deal of other students, to pursue a history minor.

Despite being a history buff, I obviously did not want to take the required extra coursework. Dr. Ahmad convinced me to take the extra 15 credit hours, most of which were not necessarily required for my degree, to get the minor. It turned out to be very beneficial, as the history classes provided a needed break from the daily grind of my engineering classes.

Not only do I immensely enjoy history, but I also enjoy Dr. Ahmad as an individual. She has an extraordinary lust for life and has no problem letting it show through. Even during semesters when I didn’t have a history class, I found my way to her office to chat about what was going on and to get a piece of the humor that many of us found so enjoyable.

Jeremiah King, CE’06, is a project engineer for R.G. Brinkmann Constructors. He and his wife, Maria, live in St. Charles, Mo.