Triple Play: Roxborough Resident Sid MacLeod Earns Three Honors in 2007 for His Teaching and Service at La Salle University

It’s safe to say La Salle Communication Professor Sid MacLeod is having a very good 2007. After receiving the department’s Shining Star Award in April, and this University’s Lasallian Distinguished Educator Award in September, he will receive a similarly named award by the Baltimore Province of the Christian Brothers this month.

When McLeod found out he was receiving the award from the Baltimore District, the Roxborough resident said, “It was a great honor. I was surprised and overwhelmed.” (The Christian Brothers are a Catholic teaching order who founded La Salle and operate the University. In 2000, MacLeod was named an Honorary Christian Brother.)

MacLeod, who has taught at La Salle for 48 years, said,“there was no book on how you did things when I first came to La Salle, but you just saw the way things happened, the way students were treated -- it was Lasallian. My parents were Lasallian in the way they treated people, before I even realized that’s what it was. Now I know what it was because Lasallian values have been coded and defined. The philosophy that we have at La Salle is the way to do it.”  

He said he connected with the Lasallian values right away when he started teaching, and that connection is one reason he has stayed at the University.

MacLeod also said he loves what La Salle has to offer students. “It’s a great place. I enjoy what I do and look forward to coming to school each day. Why would I want to change that?” he said.

Originally from Chicago, MacLeod was graduated from another Christian Brothers College, St. Mary’s in Winona, Minnesota, where he majored in speech and theater. After serving in the army, MacLeod worked at Catholic University’s theater department, where he met Dan Rodden, a La Salle professor who encouraged him to come to Philadelphia.

“I got a call from Dan Rodden, and he said they were starting up a theater program at La Salle, and there was an opening where I could be teaching and working in theater. I thought that sounded like a good idea, so I went for it,” MacLeod said.

That was in 1959. MacLeod first taught public speaking and theater, and worked with the student theatre group, The Masque. Since then, MacLeod created the University’s audio-visual department, has taught television courses, served as a faculty senator and made several documentaries for the University. In 1996, he received the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching.

After all of his years at La Salle, MacLeod said what he enjoys the most is the interaction with students. “I really enjoy trying to communicate and trying to find different ways to do it. For me, teaching is a creative act—all communication is,” he said.

Communication Department Chair Lynne Texter, Ph.D., said MacLeod is one of the reasons the department is so solid. “I respect and admire him, professionally and personally. He’s an enthusiastic teacher, a caring and compassionate colleague, and a wonderful person,” she said.

--Amanda Koehler