In Philip Roth's controversial novel "Portnoy's Complaint" (1969) there's a line that Milton Katz says has stayed with him as he's gotten older.

Katz - a huge baseball fan - says center fielders see everything. They see the pitcher. They see the batter. They see all the other players. And they see it all while waiting for the ball to come their way.

It's easy to draw the comparison to Katz who - during the last half century - has witnessed (as well as been a part of) the action at the Kansas City Art Institute.

In April, he says he will be 80-years-old (“I’m getting up there despite trying to fight it”). But when he first came to campus in the Fall of 1974, he found himself on the other extreme of faculty demographics.

"When I was hired, I was the youngest faculty member. I played a much smaller role and was intimidated by our most prominent faculty. People like [chair of Ceramics] Ken Ferguson [chair of Sculpture] Dale Eldred, and [chair of Painting] Wilbur Niewald.” Katz said.

While he would later become friends with those people he saw as famous, Katz was also part of a new and different kind of faculty at KCAI.

Katz (along with one other professor) were the first instructors with doctorate degrees hired in the Liberal Arts department. The way Katz describes it, KCAI was transitioning to a more serious and expanded program ("Strong getting stronger," he said) and he was a part of the build-up.

"Internally we knew we were a prestigious school. But nationally it wasn't as recognized. During my career that perception has changed. The change has been noticeable nationally and in Kansas City itself," Katz said.

Katz giving a lecture for his course "Peace and Conflict Resolution" (KCAI Archive, 2014)

A lot of people assume that Katz is an art historian. He is not. His focus is humanities and social science.

As a professor, his favorite classes to teach have been about The Holocaust, America in the 1960s, and a course matching his gentle demeanor called "Peace and Conflict Resolution." He was tenured in 1981 and promoted to full professor in 1991.

But his reach went far beyond the classroom. He became the first faculty member to serve on the Kansas City Art Institute’s Board of Trustees (a non-voting member but engaged in direct conversations on decisions). Faculty took the vote and his name came out on top.

He has pride in sharing that he is the first faculty member to receive every special faculty award: Excellence in Teaching, Outstanding Special Project, and Distinguished Achievement awards.

In 2005, his book The Kansas City Art Institute: a Century of Excellence and Beyond was published - an accomplishment he viewed as necessary.

"Two other brief histories were written many years ago. So I went to the interim president and he said 'Please write it,'" Katz said.

"For a while there the library had about 400 copies of it," he said, chuckling.

Milton Katz Faculty Photo (KCAI Archive, 2023)

He became Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs in 2012. Three years later, he transitioned to Vice President. He took on the role of Dean of Faculty from 2020-2022. All this while being honored with a Senior Professor title in Humanities in 2017.

When it comes to retirement, Katz feels conflicted about giving up his tenured position. His plan is to slow down but remain a professor, potentially carrying a smaller course load at KCAI or elsewhere. He also has an interest in teaching adult education classes.

He also plans to continue following baseball - specifically the St. Louis Cardinals. Katz admits he's no great athlete but he loves the sport nonetheless. In fact, KCAI used to have a Faculty vs. Students game that gave Katz a chance to put on his glove.

"And one year I'm playing center field and the ball is coming to me. And I'm thinking to myself 'Oh my God, I can finally catch one,'" Katz said.

"And I'm looking at the sky. I'm watching the ball,” he said.

“And that's when some staff member barrels into me and breaks my collarbone," he recalls, smiling.

"As a center fielder it was my moment in the sun. But it's still real to me, and in my mind, the ball lands in my glove every time.”