With the students’ return to another hybrid virtual semester, political science majors mourn the loss of one their favorite professors, Dr. Trevor Morris.

Morris, a political science, and history professor at Texas Wesleyan, suffered from complications due to surgery he had done over the break, according to Dr. Christopher Ohan. Morris leaves his wife behind and a lasting impact on students and faculty on campus.

“I’ve never seen the amount of grief that I’ve seen for Dr. Morris among his students. Unfortunately, that first day of this semester, I took over one of his classes and it was 9 a.m., on that first Wednesday of the semester, and I was the first person that told many of the students in the classroom. So, there was quite a bit of a shock and a visible outpouring of grief on the part of many students,” Ohan said.

According to Morris’s resume, Morris was a faculty sponsor for the Model United Nations, which is a simulation of the United Nations for students to act as delegates for their assigned country, attempting to solve real-world issues.

“Morris was the type of faculty that was very involved with students. If he thought that a student had potential, he would ask that student to come by his office and talk about their career options and what they should focus on,” Ohan said.

Phillip Haas, a senior political science and pre-law major, as well as one of Morris’s students, said Morris was helping him work on a thesis for his capstone project when he passed.

“I liked working with the polls and data like that, and that’s all stuff he really loved doing. So, I’m glad I was able to work with him and learn how to do that through research methods and political theory. I really think he set my career in motion,” Haas said.

Haas said that his favorite memory with Morris was being in his political theory class over a year ago.

“The class was really fun, and he told a lot of jokes. He just made it really fun for everybody,” Haas said. “I just remember that was the class that really got me interested in the research side of political science, because it was just so data driven and straight forward.”

Another student Morris taught, senior political science major Tameir Grosvenor, said she found out about his passing because she was supposed to be taking a class with him this semester.

“We were all like, wow, like, really? Professor Morris? No, not him. I honestly can’t believe it now. Because it’s just like, I don’t think it has sunk into my head yet that it really happened,” Grosvenor said.

Grosvenor said that she felt like Morris wanted to make an impact on his students and that he achieved that in his time at Texas Wesleyan.

“Because I know so many students that I have in all my classes that really loved him, and was like, he was such a great professor. He definitely made me love my major, even more, and I definitely feel like he made a big impact and did what he was intending to do,” Grosvenor said.