Dan Casey

Roanoke Times Metro columnist

Stu Samuels was city editor of The (Annapolis) Capital when I was there, 1987-1994. It was an afternoon daily. Stu had a masters from UVa and was a Vietnam vet. He was stingy with praise but when he bestowed it you knew you'd worked a journalistic miracle. I would've followed the devil to Hell to get a good story for Stu.

Samantha Steidle

Radford University

Submitted

Walker Nelms, my first boss at the American Red Cross, showed me what great leadership looks like in a non-profit organization. He had a remarkable ability to remove barriers and he focused on what mattered, while maintaining a sense of humor and making even the difficult days feel fun. Tommy of Yellow Book was a great, tough boss who channeled extreme adversity for professional success. At Virginia Western Community College, President Robert Sandel always balanced humor, responsibility, and kindness and Carole Tarrant taught me the value of leading with policy language over emotion.

Kris Tilley-Lubbs

Retired college professor

Submitted

I returned to the university for a Ph.D. at age 52, 33 years after getting my master’s in Spanish Literature. As a Ph.D. student, then professor of education, I was expected to write traditional scientific research. I tried, but I found it to be boring, which was reflected in my writing. A trusted colleague/mentor, Jim Garrison, told me I needed to follow my bliss, my heart, my passion, and write the narratives that I loved writing and did well. Without that colleague, I would have left the university and not enjoyed 22 years at Virginia Tech.