When professor Carl Knight needs medical attention, he knows where to look - to his former students. Over 35 years of teaching anatomy/physiology and microbiology at DCCCD, so many of his students have entered medical fields that they form an impressive network. "My doctor, dentist, optometrist, pharmacist, physician's assistant and chiropractor are all my former students," he says.

Knight, who received his doctorate, master's and bachelor's degrees from the University of Michigan, started out in the classroom there as a graduate teaching assistant. In 1970, he was hired as a charter faculty member for the brand-new Eastfield College campus. "I was here B.C. -  before carpet," he jokes.

To the thousands of students who have passed through his classroom - many of whom keep in touch even after decades - Carl Knight is a legend, a tough but fair professor who expects and gets his students' best. It also helps that he has a crystal-clear idea of his mission in the classroom. "I teach at the community college level because as a professor, I can really make a difference in small classes," he says. "I can really reach my students, talk to them and motivate them."

Knight firmly believes that many students get their best shot at success in a community college setting. "I have seen so many people who didn't have a prayer of being successful walk across the stage and receive a degree in many different fields of medicine," he says. "The community part of our college name is so important; we really do form a family system in the community."

Member and past president of the Louise Harrington Baylor School of Nursing Advisory Board, Knight is also a member of the Medical Laboratory Science Board of Advisors at UT-Health Science Center at Dallas.

But it's clear that to Carl Knight, it's all about the students, not him. "The best part of my job is watching my students become successful," he says. "I hope thay take away from my classroom a love of knowledge."

For professor Carl Knight, it all began here.