Veteran science professor announces retirement
Retirement
years will
be filled
with such
hobbies as
domestic
and exotic
birds, Collie
dogs and
gardening
After thirty years in the classroom, J. P.
Harris has decided to change his lecture time to
leisure hours, trade his biology projects for bird
raising, and begin retirement at the close of the
spring semester.
“I’ll probably do more work than 1 do now,”
said Harris, associate professor of science, “but I
am ready to retire and 1 look forward to it.”
Harris has devoted almost his entire working
life to education. He has been in the classroom
for more than 39 years to serve “more students
than I can probably count.” Harris has also had
the opportunity to teach some of the children of
his former students.
Harris grew up in Warren County where his
father operated a general store and also engaged
in farming. It was, perhaps, work on his
parents’ farm that caused Harris to develop an
interest in science.
The only member of his family to attend
college, Harris entered Louisburg College
several years after high school to begin his
college education and earn an associate’s degree.
“I was awarded my bachelor’s degree from
East Carolina College and my master’s from
East Carolina University,” he said jokingly.
Since his graduation from ECU he has
completed additional graduate work at Worcester
Polytechnic Institute in Boston, MA, North
Carolina State University, and the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Harris’ first teaching assignment was at
Conway (NC) High School when he “was fresh
out of college” to teach high school science
courses. He continued at this position for nine
years and until the school closed due to consoli
dation and the construction of a larger facility.
While teaching at Conway, “J. P.”, as he is
affectionately known by his multitude of friends,
taught summer school courses at Chowan. “This
helped me get my foot in the door toward
becoming a college professor,” he stated.
In the fall of 1964, Harris accepted an
invitation to join the full-time faculty at
Chowan, and “I started teaching in the science
building, which is now Greene Hall of Visual
Arts.”
“Back in those days, we had to teach labs in
the morning and also at night in order to
accommodate all of the students,” he related.
“There were several years when our total college
enrollment was more than 1,200 and at one time
we had six biology teachers in the department.”
It was during his tenure at Conway High that
Harris met a young future teacher of the home
economics department who would later become
his wife.
Geraldine Liverman, a native of Conway,
and Harris were married on June 12,1959, and
they are the parents of a son, Alan, and a
daughter, Mrs. Shari Lee. Both of the Harris
children are graduates of Chowan College.
Mrs. Harris, who also became a full-time
teacher at Conway High School, followed her
husband to Chowan and is the head librarian in
Whitaker Library.
“We don’t have any grandchildren yet,”
Harris noted, “but that fact may change.”
“I will really miss working with students,”
the professor noted, “for this is what I like best
about teaching. Being able to help students is
one of the most rewarding things I have ever
done.”
The retirement years will be very busy for
Harris because he doesn’t plan to spend all of
the time relaxing. In addition to his many
hobbies, he plans to continue his community and
church involvement.
An active member of the Murfreesboro
Methodist Church, Harris is a member of the
administrative board, a member of the church
Fecho named head of Art Division
“Her expertise,
experience and
unceasing energy
wiU
serve to add
further
strength to
our programs
in visual arts.”
Susan B. Fecho, associate professor of art,
has been appointed head of the Division of
Visual Arts, effective at the beginning of the
spring semester which began in January.
A resident of Tarboro, Fecho was awarded
the bachelor’s and master’s degrees by East
Carolina University. She has completed
additional study at the Goldsmith Division of the
University of London, and at Jan Van Eyck
Academy in Maastrict, Holland.
“I am very pleased that Susan Fecho has
accepted the appointment to serve as head of the
division of art,” said Dr. B. Franklin Lowe, Jr.,
vice president for academic affairs.
“She is well qualified for the position and
holds a genuine interest in serving students.” he
continued. “Her expertise, experience and her
unceasing energy should serve to add further
strength to our programs in the visual arts.”
Prior to joining the Chowan faculty in 1987,
Fecho served as a visiting artist, lecturer and
private instructor in the area of painting, crafts,
printmaking and drawing. She has also been a
J. P. Harris
prepares for
some of the
classes and
labs which
will end his
lor^ teaching
choir, and a teacher of the men’s Sunday school
class.
He has been a member of the Murfreesboro
Exchange Club for more than 20 years and has
served as secretary. He is now a director.
Harris plans to continue his hobby of raising
domestic and exotic birds. “I probably now have
more than a couple hundred birds,” he said, “and
I want to get more.”
In addition to maintaining two “bird barns”
near his home to keep most of the birds, Harris
houses additional species in a Florida room
connected to his home. “I have several birds that
do not stay in any type of cage,” he testified,
“and spend most of their time sitting on my
shoulder.”
“I really enjoy my birds, but they do require
a lot of attention,” he noted. “It is necessary for
me to carefully plan when I can be away from
home for a day or so, and vacations—well, that
takes a lot of planning!”
Harris also raises registered Collie dogs, “but
I won’t ever have as many Collies as I do birds,”
he quickly proclaimed.
An expert gardener and a noted authority on
flowers and ornamental plants, Harris has made
his family residence “a picturesque showplace.”
“My vegetable gardens have become smaller
and smaller during the past few years,” he noted.
“Of course, I will continue to have a garden
because I enjoy it so much .,. but, I probably
won’t have a very large one after I retire.”
studio assistant in surface design and
printmaking.
Fecho has teaching experience in high
schools and with several colleges. She also
served for six years as a visiting artist and
lecturer for teacher renewal and college courses.
She has written a number of articles for
periodical publications and produced Portrait of
the Outer Banks: An Artist’s Sketchbook last
year.
Fecho’s work has been exhibited in many
galleries and shows throughout the state and she
is the recipient of numerous awards.
She is the recipient of a 1994 Community
Development Grant with the Edgecombe County
Arts Council to research, plan and implement a
community mural of Edgecombe County history
involving grades 4 through 12.
Fecho replaces Doug Eubank, who resigned
as head of the division of art at the conclusion of
the fall semester due to personal reasons.
Eubank will continue to serve as a professor in
the department.
Chamblee awarded
national certification
Dr. James C. Chamblee, chairman of the
Department of Fine Arts, has been recognized as
a nationally certified teacher of voice by the
Music Teachers National Association (MTNA).
Chamblee, who received the B.A. degree
from the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill, was awarded his master’s degree by
Columbia University. He earned the doctorate in
musicology from UNC-Chapel Hill in 1973 and
has chaired the Department of Fine Arts since
1959.
He is a member of the North Carolina Music
Teachers Association, serving as voice chair.
Eligibility for MTNA national certification is
based on stringent criteria developed and
administered by the association’s National
Certification Board. Renewal of the certificate
every five years requires continuing self-
improvement and growth in the music teaching
profession.
PAGE 8 - CHOWAN TODAY, Spring 1994