ORONO – When you devote your life to studying ice ages, the matter of your own age tends to be insignificant by comparison. That may help explain why University of Maine professor Harold W. Borns Jr. hasn’t really thought about retiring, even though he’s approaching his 76th birthday.

“I’m not the oldest person at the university by any means, but I believe that I’ve been here the longest,” Borns said recently at his campus office, which features an artificial skeleton of a saber-toothed tiger, among other oddities.

Borns, who is a professor of geological sciences, has been teaching at UMaine since 1956 and has no plans to slow down.

“He’s been there for 47 years,” said his wife, Margaret Borns. “He’s on half-retirement but he doesn’t stop.”

Even when he does take full retirement, Borns said, the only change would be his paycheck.

“I look at it this way: I have a job I love. Why retire?” he said. “I fully intend to continue what I do [after retirement] but do it at my own rate. I would have retired a long time ago, but it came and went. As long as I’m a productive person, I see no reason to retire.”

Borns spends 30 percent of his time teaching and 70 percent on research. In the fall he works individually with students while conducting research, and he teaches two classes in the spring.

The longtime professor’s claim to fame is the expansion of research studies at UMaine.

“I’ve been largely responsible for the development of what is called the Institute for Quaternary Studies, which is a multidisciplinary organization focused on the Ice Age,” he said.

The institute is now known as the Climate Change Institute.

“It’s been really successful and has a wonderful image as a global institute,” said the veteran professor. “The institute has evolved to meet the times and now we’re focusing on climate change.”

After forming the institute in 1974, Borns held the position of director for 15 years. He said he spent the time hiring excellent staff. Now the institute’s faculty and students conduct regular research trips to the Antarctic and other research areas around the world.

“UMaine has one of the largest groups of Antarctic researchers in the U.S.,” he said.

With a new metal hip, implanted a year ago, and minor heart problems, Borns said he hopes to make one more trip to the Antarctic – a home away from home for the professor – to finish a research project.

“I spent 26 field seasons in the Antarctic starting in 1960,” he said. “Usually that’s a month or two in the winter.”

Borns holds a bachelor’s degree from Tufts University, has a master’s and a doctorate from Boston University and was a postdoctoral fellow in glacial and quaternary geology at Yale University.

“After my postdoctoral fellow[ship] … I came right back here [to UMaine] and I’ve been here ever since, with a little time off for good behavior,” he said.

Borns is a former program manager of polar glaciology for the U.S. National Science Foundation in Washington.

Over the years, Borns has done research in Canada’s Yukon Territory, Norway, Scotland, Ireland, Africa, Greenland, India and Antarctica.

“I’ve been researching glacial geology history wherever the research has been good,” he said.

“The Ice Age World,” published in 1994, is Borns’ first book, but not his last.

“It’s designed to get people excited about the Ice Age,” he said. “My objective when I finally retire is to produce a ‘The Ice Age of Maine’ book.

“Nearly all of my research, from end to end, has been supported by the National Science Foundation and the National Geographic Society, which has meant millions of dollars for the university that has gone to support students,” he said.

Over the years Borns has received a number of distinguished awards, including UMaine’s Faculty Research Achievement Award and the U.S. Antarctic Service Medal. In recognition of his many seasons of field geology in Antarctica, Borns had a glacier named after him by the U.S. Board of Geographic Names.

Professor George L. Jacobson Jr., former Climate Change Institute director, said Borns is a great educator.

“He’s just a very friendly, positive, hardworking, enthusiastic college professor who is always trying to make things better,” he said. “He is a very good mentor for all of the young faces, and he’s very encouraging. He never stops trying and I admire him immensely.”

The Bangor Daily News is profiling people age 70 and older who choose to remain in the work force. We welcome suggestons for people to profile. Contact us at 990-8138 or e-mail bdnnews@bangordailynews.net