11 minute read
Class acts
JOSIE WILLIAMS ’16, (LEFT), SAYS THE DAY SHE MET GUILFORD PROFESSOR SHERRY GILES IS THE DAY “I WAS INTRODUCED TO THE WORLD.”
The Professor Who Changed My Life
Guilfordians share their stories of faculty who transformed them.
BY ROBERT BELL ’11
They start as professors, strangers in a classroom passing out a syllabus and maybe a smile. But over the course of a semester, four years at Guilford, or even a lifetime, Guilfordians say those professors become oh-so-much more.
They become mentors and coaches, cheerleaders and champions. They drop you a text when you’ve missed their last two lectures or find a frontrow seat at Ragan-Brown for your big game. And while you may not have seen it at the time, they were cheering you on in the classroom, too, helping you discover hidden passions, offering you views of the world through a kaleidoscope of lenses and instilling in you the audacity to actually believe you can change your corner of that world.
Josie Williams ’16 remembers walking into Guilford Professor Sherry Giles’ Community Problem Solving class as an adult student back in 2014. “The day I was introduced to Sherry," says Josie, Executive Director of the Greensboro Housing Coalition since the spring of 2020, "was the day I was introduced to the world. It was like that class and Sherry teaching it were made for me.”
Every Guilford graduate knows a Sherry, a professor who rose above and beyond their job description to help you change for the better. So it was no surprise when we asked Guilfordians about professors who have made a profound impact on their lives, we heard from so many of you.
It is often said that Guilford College changes lives. Here are some of the students and professors behind those those life-changing stories.
I want students to find meaning in every class.
— SHERRY GILES, JEFFERSON PILOT PROFESSOR OF JUSTICE AND POLICY STUDIES
“Creating a space of trust and openness allows students to bring powerful, first-hand knowledge of oppressive systems in dialogue with theories about these systems. The readings, discussions and community-based learning give students a new lens through which to make meaning of their own life experiences. I want students to find meaning in every class. This new understanding inspires and motivates students and alums to advocate and organize in their communities to make these systems more liberating and healing.”
Sherry lets you discover more about a subject or yourself in class and apply what you learn in real life.
— JOSIE WILLIAMS ’16, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE GREENSBORO HOUSING COALITION
One of my first classes at Guilford was Sherry Giles’ Community Problem Solving. I will never forget just how engaging and genuinely real she was as a professor. Sherry didn't mind talking about real issues and paralleling those issues to our studies. We did the book work, sure, but Sherry allowed us to talk about real-life issues so we could align our thoughts with the reality of our experiences. And I think that that's the key to learning: Sherry lets you discover or learn more about a subject or yourself and apply it in real life.
Because of the classwork and the way she created trust and space to discuss real issues, I was able for the first time to look at things from a different perspective and within the context of restorative justice. Sherry didn't know at the time (and many still don't) that I have a brother incarcerated. Because of her, I was able to process my thoughts on him and open up to a new perspective. This helped my growth and development and increased my understanding. After experiencing homelessness, I needed education, not to validate my experience, but to actually understand how I got there in the first place. To do that you need the space for that growth to happen. Sherry created that space.”
My sophomore year at Guilford I took Adrienne Israel’s African cultures class and it opened my eyes. Adrienne made every class so welcoming to a student who had absolutely no knowledge of Africa. Her passion and her humor resonated with me. Adrienne made me a better teacher. If you’re a faculty member without a true passion for your discipline for your subject, you can't connect with students. If it’s not a lot of interest to you, you’re not going to pass on that interest to others. Adrienne connected with me from the first day. Isn’t that what teaching is about? To connect and inspire others to learn?”
Adrienne Israel made me a better teacher.
— BC CHARLES-LISCOMBE ’94, DEPARTMENT CHAIR AND AN ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR AT MOUNT SAINT JOSEPH UNIVERSITY IN CINCINNATI
— CHELSEA RIVAS ’11, FIRST-GRADE TEACHER AT TWO RIVERS PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL IN WASHINGTON, D.C.
Iremember the first day of a Heather Hayton course I took. She had five of us come up to the front of the room and asked us to think of an embarrassing moment in our lives, one that we felt incredibly ashamed of. Then she had the rest of the class observe us and comment on how our physical features changed. A lot of us turned red just thinking about our moment. Heather talked about how shame is one of the strongest emotions that everybody in the world feels. In that one lesson Heather showed we all have similar emotions and similar experiences, no matter where we come from but that we can use those things we have in common to come together rather than stay apart. As a teacher I have to form relationships with all of my students and their families in order to have a successful year together. And so that first day in class she taught me a lesson I still use today. There are many things we share with other people. Heather showed me the importance of connecting with others. I try to do that every day in my classroom.”
“Real learning is always difficult. I try to do activities that help us bond as a community, to get beyond the texts we are studying. Sharing those moments is the beginning step to trusting one another (and ourselves) as we study difficult theories and texts. I love that Guilford students commit to the messy, sometimes chaotic, energy that transformative learning needs.”
“My passion for teaching was ignited in my childhood but remained unfulfilled until I learned how to teach at Guilford. I learned to listen to students and I tried to see what I was teaching through their eyes. Instead of lecturing and sharing information, I tried to involve them in the subject, no matter what it was. Originally I wanted to be a writer, but fiction did not supply enough material to satisfy me. History being an infinite subject supplies the substance for both teaching and writing and sharing. It produces a love for other people that grew as I learned from my students at Guilford. I owe them thanks and I owe Guilford for providing an atmosphere in which I could shut out the rest of the world when I stepped into the classroom.”
Guilford students commit to the messy.
— HEATHER HAYTON, ROBERT K. MARSHALL PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH
— ADRIENNE ISRAEL IS PROFESSOR OF HISTORY AND INTERCULTURAL STUDIES EMERITA AND A FORMER VICE PRESIDENT AND ACADEMIC DEAN
David Hildreth—he’s only an email away.
— LEVI BRUFF ’17, SCIENCE TEACHER AT SOUTH DAVIDSON (N.C.) HIGH SCHOOL
Sometimes I think David Hildreth has had more of an influence on me after my time at Guilford than while I was a student. I’m always emailing him to get his thoughts on what my next steps should be as an educator, because he always challenged me and other students at Guilford to be reflective and lifelong learners. David always encourages us to list two or three strengths and only one next step or weakness. I’ve been sending him my strengths and next steps every few months for six years now. I usually write this in a long paragraph. It’s more like a novel than an email. He always responds within an hour. A lot of what he says just reaffirms what I might already be thinking, but sometimes he comes up with a solution to my problem I never thought of. It’s nice to know our professors at Guilford are still there for us even after we’ve graduated. That’s David Hildreth — he’s only an email away.”
Growing up I always felt this need to be perfect, to get it right the first time. Then I took a German class with Dave Limburg and he showed me how ridiculous that was. Not just in a classroom but in life. David always tells students, “you're learning this, you don't know it. It’s okay to make mistakes. That’s how you learn.” He taught me that making those mistakes are what propel you forward. I didn’t realize it at the time, but David has this gift of helping you build self-confidence. And that confidence you gain in the classroom spills out into your personal life and you realize that life doesn’t play out the way you expect it to. You deal with the mistakes you make and learn from them. Dave said messing up is part of the fun of learning in college. That’s kind of what most people need to learn about life, too.”
— RICHARD ALLEN SHARPE ‘09, STUDYING SOFTWARE ENGINEERING IN MUNICH
RICHARD ALLEN SHARPE, LEFT, WITH DAVE LIMBURGH AND HIS WIFE, LAURA
— DAVE LIMBURG, PROFESSOR OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES
“Allowing yourself to make mistakes and developing confidence to deal with them is a key to learning; that means you're constantly doing, practicing. And that habit of practice leads to another key to life learning: self-motivation. I tell my students they need to learn how to teach themselves. Languages are the perfect discipline for practicing that. You're gonna make mistakes. Try not to worry, keep learning.”
— DAVID HILDRETH, LINCOLN FINANCIAL PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION STUDIES
“We encourage students to reflect on who they are as educators — their strengths and their next steps. Having students look within themselves and deeply reflect is an optimal way to improve — not only as an educator, but as an individual. As professors of education, we love to stay in contact with our students, to not only continue to help them find success in their own classrooms, but to also learn from them and their experiences as teachers.”
Now It’s Your Turn
Do you have a Guilford professor who changed your life? We want to hear from you. Drop me a note at bellrw@guilford.edu and share your story.
What I like most about Kami is how flexible and easy-going she was with me in her classes. I was pretty specific about what I wanted to learn and play as a student. Kami was so open to me learning at my pace and my way. Most classical teachers are very rigid in their ways but Kami was never that way. She has a natural inclination of creating this very fluid, relaxed space for learning. Kami has a gift of shining a light on you and showing you things you can do that you never thought you could do. I teach music, too, and that’s what I try to do with my students. If they don’t want to practice when I see them, I’m not going to make them. I want my students to practice when they feel inspired. And they’ll want to practice when they feel like they’re connecting with their teacher, which is what Kami did with me at Guilford.”
Kami has a gift of shining a light on you.
— LAURA BOSWELL ’12, A MUSICIAN AND TEACHER LIVING IN ASHEVILLE, N.C.
— KAMI ROWAN, CHARLES A. DANA PROFESSOR OF MUSIC
“My students teach me every day. I am honored to be a part of their journey and work with them to increase their wellness and sense of self. Music is a beautiful way to collaborate with others, and teaching is an extension of that. I want to guide students to find their inner voice and express who they are through music. Each one is so unique and different and that's a gift. I have to be able to know them and meet them where they are.”
