This is a reflection that I presented to the Academic Affairs Council of the Board of Trustees on October 6, 2016
~Paula Lowther McGrew ‘78
Teaching and Learning Across Disciplines — Across Generations
We all get caught up in the day-to-day details of our jobs. Sometimes our perspectives can get very focused — to the point of missing the big picture. Sometimes it is good to step back and see things from a different viewpoint. Take academics at WVWC for example. WVWC academics have been part of my life since before I was born. How? It has been part of the fabric of our family for generations.
My Grandfather (Russell Lowther) graduated in 1941. He was a first generation college student. People like Roy McCuskey (President at the time), Ralph Brown, and Lewis Chrisman were regularly talked about and quoted at family events. So much so that I felt they were family members and people that I knew. Their stories were familiar to me. Grandpa could (and did) quote poetry, wax eloquent on theological matters, etc. — which were direct outcomes of his coursework with these iconic faculty members. He passed their wisdom down to me in direct and indirect ways by telling the stories of being in their classes.
My dad (Dewayne Lowther) graduated in 1957 — and I attended my very first graduation that year at 6 months old. He also studied with Ralph Brown, and a few others who were still teaching at the college. In fact, he regularly drove Ralph Brown to events, and served as a kind of chauffer to him!
At 12 years old, I attended my 2nd WVWC graduation — out in front of the library — outside what was my office for ten years as Director of Library Services. My mother had transferred credits from WVU, West Liberty, and Morris Harvey back to WVWC and attended summer school one summer because she wanted her degree to be from WVWC. Academics and a degree from somewhere else just would not do. You see, when mom and dad eloped, my Grandpa Sam cut off funding for college, and said that if they were old enough to be married they were old enough to pay for college. Nellie Wilson, longtime teacher and dorm mother at WVWC, had to call my grandfather with this news. She is famous on campus. She is famous in our family. She is part of our legend and legacy.
My husband’s graduation was next in 1977. Janet McCoy, Arthur Holmes, Sid Davis, Dr. Bercovitz, and Robert O’Brien all played a huge part in his education. They were his mentors, his advisors, his academic role models.
Then my own graduation in 1978. Kenneth Plummer, Keith Burns, Bobby Loftis, David Milburn, and Larry Parsons were among those who were instrumental in my discovery of what I loved to do, and taught me the skills to follow my dreams. Bobby Loftis gently indicated that music theory was not a strength of mine. My music minor became an English minor. Keith Burns, Library Director, taught me Library Administration one-on-one in his office. When I became Director of Library Services some thirty years later, that office became my office. I sat in his actual chair. And a photograph of the two of of us on my graduation day was placed on the shelf in that office. He also modeled for me how church work, laughter, music, and enthusiasm could all combine into the work that I was meant to do.
Our son, Stephen (2004) toured Eastern Europe with the same David Milburn and the Jazz Band. Doc Milburn literally gave Stephen a new perspective on the world. These experiences, and the mentorship of a very caring and enthusiastic faculty member, had a profound impact on him. The same with Dr. Kay Long, who sat Stephen down one day to inform him that Communication was a discipline, and area of study, that was tailor made for him. And, indeed, this has proven to be true as he went on to earn a masters degree in Communication Studies.
Our daughter, Amy (2009), regularly thanks Shirley Fortney, Debbie Bush, and Lynn Rupp for things she uses every single day in her work. Dr. Fortney is famous for demanding excellence and perfection from her students in the area of assessment in education. Each and every day, Amy uses these skills in her work with the visually impaired students she serves. As an Orientation and Mobility Specialist, she thanks Dr. Fortney for making sure that she really understood and learned to apply this information. Debbie Bush led a study tour of orphanages in Russia one May term. They laughed and cried and studied and played and prayed their way through that trip. Again, giving Amy a whole new perspective of the world, and possibly of the faculty who were her mentors and guides.
Eventually, I took my turn to offer a new perspective or two. As a faculty member from 2001-2017, I had the opportunity to be the mentor, the advisor, the teacher, and the role model.
When, after 25 years away, I came back to WVWC as a faculty member and librarian, I noticed that I had a very unique view of academics. I watched Admission tours come through the building every day. Many of those students appeared again for Pre-registration day, and I watched them taking their folders upstairs in the library to meet faculty advisors and plan their schedules. I watched them come again during Orientation week, looking nervous. I watched as they came in for classes, to read and study and work with groups. Sometimes they looked more confident – until midterms – then they would recover – until it was time for finals. Eventually most of them crossed that stage and received their degrees. The result of all of the academic work they had done in and out of the classroom became visible. These same students, previously tentative and nervous, would stride confidently out into the world to make a difference. They often bring their children back for a visit, showing them where “their” seat in the library was, and talking about all that they had seen, heard, experienced, and learned at WVWC.
It is not only students that I observed. I had the chance to see my faculty colleagues preparing their courses, making sure that the resources needed for their teaching were in place. I saw them busily coming and going to meetings, classes, meeting with students, getting coffee. After the students had finished their finals and gone home, I would see the faculty members working so very hard to get the grading done. I could see how excited they were when their students caught fire because of something learned in their classes. I could see how frustrated they would get with students who did not live up to their potential.
Across generations of the Orange Line, faculty have made a difference. Academics have made a difference. It turns out to be much more than just getting the next assignment done, or test taken, or presentation given. It turns out to have changed everything.
As of this writing (December 2017), I have attended 22 WVWC Graduations in all. My favorite moment of each year is when the faculty lines the sidewalk outside of the gym after Commencement to applaud the new graduates. Students look stunned at this. Faculty is a bit teary-eyed at times.
It is great to see the big picture once in awhile. And, to know that our amazing faculty will continue doing these things for generations to come.