Provizer, who has been with the college for 20 years, provides concert reviews for radio stationJazz89 KUVO.

Norman Provizer is an expert on two things: political science and jazz.

“I heard some jazz when I was 12 years old and said, ‘This is it,’” says the music buff who has never touched a saxophone or piano keys. He immediately fell in love with the music because of its ability to convey thoughts and emotions, and has become a local icon for jazz music.

Writing concert reviews and offering music commentary for the radio station Jazz89 KUVO (a National Public Radio affiliate) keeps Provizer’s jazz listening skills sharp. He participates in a radio show on Thursdays and a writes a weekly column (“Provizer’s Jazz Notes”) for the KUVO website. He also has written for Down Beat, a major jazz magazine, The Rocky Mountain News and a small newspaper in Shreveport, La.

“It’s not very different from teaching – it’s just a different direction,” says Provizer, who’s been with Metro State since 1989.

He has known for a long time that teaching was the right step in his life, whether it was about music or constitutional law.

“I was always interested in political science growing up as a kid, so I knew I wanted to do something connected to that…After being in school (college) for a little bit, I thought about teaching. (It) seemed to be the natural progression,” he says.

Provizer did his undergraduate work at Lafayette College and received his doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania. “My main focus both in grad and undergrad was international relations,” he says.

He taught at Louisiana State University in Shreveport for 15 years before coming to Metro State, where he helped initiate the Golda Meir Leadership Center. “Since it (her house) was here it was natural to have a program,” he says.

Continuing with his focus on leadership, Provizer has developed a minor in leadership studies that begins this fall. The minor takes a cross-disciplinary approach and looks at leadership from political, social and business angles. “The minor focuses on the role of leadership and how it affects our lives both in a positive and negative way,” he says.

When he is not teaching constitutional law and leadership courses (or commenting on jazz), Provizer spends time writing about leadership for academic journals and chapters for books. He always keeps himself available for political commentary in the local media, but unlike many other commentators, he takes a nonpartisan perspective.

“I reject the idea that some who knows a lot about the subject can’t talk about that subject from any other angle other than partisan views,” he says.

Provizer says he enjoys academia because it provides an environment for people to think about things and speak their minds, and it teaches people how to accept differences in ideas. “People should always be able to revisit what they think based on knowledge,” he says.

Provizer tells his students that their opinions don’t matter unless they can tell others why their opinions matter. “Arguments are important. If you believe something, that’s great, but you need to be able to explain why. You need to know something,” he says.