September 16, 2024 | By Jennifer Levin

St. John’s Santa Fe is turning 60! To celebrate, we’ll be looking back at key figures, moments, and movements from the campus’s past, all of which have proved instrumental in transforming the foothills of Monte Sol into a beloved home for generations of Johnnies. We chatted with Pioneer Class graduate Paul Eitner (SF71) while taking a trip down memory lane—one that was followed shortly after by a literal return to Eitner’s college days when he attended September 2024’s in-person Homecoming festivities.

After completing the St. John’s Program, Paul Eitner  left Santa Fe for graduate school in Ann Arbor, Michigan, thinking he’d become a mathematics professor. He ended up discovering a love for computer programming, which led him to working in satellite communications for companies like Lockheed Martin, General Electric, and the small consulting firm Arcfield. “I retired in 2013 and was hired back around 2020, so I’m working 24 hours a week, doing the same thing I was doing for 20 years before I retired,” he says. “I’ve always wanted to tackle the harder problems.”

Eitner today lives in Audubon, Pennsylvania, but he remains strongly connected to his alma mater—and to Santa Fe. He has served on the board of Santa Fe Botanical Garden, where he established and partially funds an internship for St. John’s students, and he visits frequently for Summer Classics and Science Institute seminars.

How did you go from wanting to be an academic mathematician to working in the defense industry?
I completed a master’s degree in mathematics and was working on a dissertation at the University of Michigan, but my full-time work as a computer programmer was more compelling. While working, I earned a master’s in systems engineering and one in telecommunications engineering. About 12 years of post-graduate education leads me to where I’m 73 years old, and they still want me to work.

What led you to create an internship for students at the Botanical Garden? 
One of the most important things about my time at St. John’s in Santa Fe was that we were surrounded by nature. But we were very isolated from the world during Vietnam. We really didn’t know what was happening on other campuses, or what we should do after graduation. The college exists in a broader world, and it’s important to pay some attention to that. I saw that the college was doing more to support students to connect in the world, funding classes at traditional universities for student who want to go to graduate school and coordinating internships. I’ve volunteered at the Botanical Garden doing everything from weeding to giving tours to working the cash register. So that was the purpose of the internship—to get people to put down their books for a bit, and get out there and learn about the world we all live in.

How did you first learn about St. John’s?
I was what they used to call an underachiever when I was in high school. I was distracted in the classroom, getting D’s, but I had spectacular test scores, and I was a National Merit Scholar finalist. My guidance counselor asked if I’d heard of St. John’s. I came for a visit and liked what I saw.

Were you happy here?
I was thrilled. I remember one night, I walked up Monte Sol and found a nice rock where I could sit and look out over the valley. It felt right. Like Siddhartha by the water. I loved my years at the college—my classes, the bonds with students and faculty.

Do any tutors stand out in your mind?
Dr. Bob Neidorf and Dr. Roger Peterson were role models for me. I was a lab assistant for Dr. Neidorf; he promoted me to senior lab assistant in my senior year, so I had a lot of responsibility. For a long time, they had his picture in the big commons room that adjoins the Great Hall. I’d go watch speakers there [in the years since graduation], and over the speaker’s shoulder was a picture of Bob Neidorf, looking back at me. That was probably a more profound experience for me than it was for other people, because he and I had been fairly close.

What have you carried with you from St. John’s?
I would say the physics lab experience was the most formative thing, because it was clear that I was headed in a scientific direction. But the school exposes you to so much—it’s not hard to find something that you feel passionate about. I enjoyed [François] Rabelais. I enjoyed Plato; I think everybody does. Roger Peterson’s biology tutorial got me thinking about nature as more than experiencing the beauty; it helped make me an environmentalist. And Linda Weiner did a Summer Classics course on a book called In Praise of Plants [by Francis Halle]. I loved that. They were both biologists. The depth of understanding I got from them was delightful.

Did you participate in or start any campus traditions while you were here? 

Well, the spring of my freshman year, 1968, there was a sit-in to pressure the administration to allow more “inter-visitation” between the dorms. Men’s dorms were at the top of the hill and the women’s dorms were at the bottom, and you could only mingle in the common rooms. The press came to the sit-in, and the administration was upset but they negotiated. As I remember, they opened the dorms between eight in the morning and midnight for inter-visitation.

And I’m not sure this answers your question, but I remember Istvan Fehervary, the activities director. He was an interesting figure, a Hungarian refugee who was able to gather groups of students around him and make good things happen. He helped start the college’s search and rescue team, and he thought St. John’s should have a running track. I was in a crew that built a quarter-mile oval in that big grassy area before the tennis courts. We built that the summer of 1970, the summer after my junior year. There was this wonderful sense of being part of a community and doing things of real worth together.