Avery continues public service into retirement

Above: Sen. Avery catches a 70 lb. tuna while deep sea fishing in the Gulf Stream off the coast of North Carolina with his son and friends.

It’s no accident that a visit to Sen. Bill Avery’s office feels like a visit to the office of a long-time college professor. The rows of political science textbooks give him away.

“I probably have 5,000 books,” estimated the former professor of 32 years. “I brought some with me because I felt lonely without books in my office.”

Avery said his career as a political science professor at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln, where he taught U.S. foreign policy, political economy and American politics to thousands of young people, led naturally to his run for office.

“I consider that a form of public service,” he said. “My decision to run for office was an extension of that.”

Having been involved in Common Cause Nebraska, a nonprofit advocacy organization that encourages open government and citizen participation in democracy, Avery has been pleased with his initial experiences as a state senator.

“I think this is an absolutely fantastic, unique institution,” he said. “I love how open and accountable it is.”

He has found the Legislature’s nonpartisanship to be a reality and hopes that the nonpartisanship can be sustained as term limits are implemented. The policy should remain priority, he said, and the politics should never trump the policy.

While he expected to be busy, “the frantic pace of my daily life was a bit of a surprise,” he said.

He said the senators’ constant “to-ing and fro-ing” was ironic, considering the slow pace at which legislation moves through the system.

Avery’s interest in politics started early.

“I read the politics page before I ever turned to the comics,” he recalled.

Originally from North Carolina, Avery is the son of an evangelical minister, so his family moved around a lot.

“The longest I spent in one place was five years. I was always the new kid.”

His father’s work as a minister taught him the importance of giving of oneself to others and devoting one’s work to the people. He credits this experience with teaching him to adapt, make friends and develop the people skills that he hopes will serve him well as a legislator.

After serving in the Air Force, the G.I. bill jump-started his education. He received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Tennessee and a Ph.D. from Tulane University.

Upon moving to Nebraska, he found the state to be a family friendly state with good schools, a low crime rate and people who respect civic values.

“Nebraskans are hardworking people who play by the rules and don’t ask for very much but a safe place to live and a good education for their children,” he said.

He’s turned down offers to teach in other states over the years because he’s become so fond of the state. So he’s a Nebraskan by choice, he said.

But Avery is no bookish professor sequestered away in an office.

“I bike, I fish, downhill ski, water ski and boogie board … I never mastered surfing standing up,” he said. “And football is a passion.”

He also has traveled throughout Latin America, Central Asia and Europe, including a year spent in Poland during the time it was a communist country. In all his travels, however, he still names the Niobrara River as one of his favorite places in the world, where he goes often to canoe.

But he doesn’t expect to get to any of those activities any time soon.

“It’s hard to say I have a life outside the Legislature, because right now I don’t,” he said.