CLARION
Brevard College, Brevard, N.C.
Volume 56 No. 3
Wednesday, October 5,1988
Do you have any teachers who,
with their outstanding education
and experience, make you won
der, “Why do they teach at Brevard?”
Many BC teachers, after all, could be en
joying higher incomes and more prestige
teaching at a larger, big-name school, or in
careers that employ their field of study
outside of teaching.
So why do they choose to remain at
Brevard?
One reason is the size of the school.
“Small is beautiful because small is effec
tive,” explains Jock Lauterer, Director of
Public Information and journalism in
structor at BC since 1986. Lauterer, who
has both graduated and taught at UNC-
Chapel Hill, teaches here because “the
caring aspect is the difference” between
UNC and Brevard College. Lauterer has
been working with newspapers or other
forms of print media since age seven. He is
the author of several published books and
has had his photography published in
magazines including Sports Illustrated
and People, but prefers applying his ex
perience at Brevard because he is a “com
pulsive teacher” and in his view Brevard
emphasizes teaching instead of research,
unlike many larger universities.
“We live together here.”
— Chuck Zimmerman
When he informed his previous
employer, the President of Dillard Univer
sity and former political science professor
at Duke University, that he was coming to
Brevard, the President replied, “Oh, I
know Brevard; that’s a good school.”
A close, competent faculty is important
to Wellborn b^ause “I am not as in
terested in doing research as I am in
teaching.”
Dr. Robert Glesener, an associate pro
fessor of biology at Brevard since 1979,
first heard about BC while still an
undergraduate at the University of
Maryland. While visiting in Western
North Carolina, Glesener found an affec
tion for the mountains and later applied for
a position here. On his decision to come
here and stay, Glesener remarks, “I had to
decide at the time that I liked teaching bet
ter than research.”
Dr. Chuck Zimmerman, a graduate of
Emory University and an assistant pro
fessor of religion, agrees with Lauterer on
the teaching emphasis at Brevard and
adds that the camaraderie evident among
faculty members is encouraged by an
absence of research at BC, minimizing
rivalry among the faculty. Zimmerman,
who served a parish before coming to
Brevard, was looking for a position where
he could be both a teacher and minister.
Brevard attracted him because of its
Methodist affiliation, the quality of life,
and the size of the institution and
community surrounding it. Echoing
Lauterer’s description of rapport at
Brevard College as “one on oneness,” Dr.
Zimmerman adds, “We live together
here.”
Dr. C. Clarke Wellborn, professor of
physics and mathematics at Brevard since
1976, cited the extreme competence and
enthusiasm of the faculty for their subjects
as a reason for his coming to Brevard.
“I enjoy working with
underclassmen.”
— Clara Wood
Why teach at BC?
by Brian Howell
Professor of Music and the Arts Sam
Cope, best known as a drama teacher in
the Fine Arts Department, has almost
three master’s degrees: one from UNC-
CH, one from the University of Tennessee,
and some postgraduate study at Indiana
University.
Cope joined the Brevard faculty in 1%9,
fulfilling a lifelong dream to live in the
mountains of Western North Carohna.
Cope enjoys the artistic freedom he has at
BC and plans to continue teaching at
Brevard because “I feel I get a lot of re
spect from the College and the communi
ty. I think they enjoy what I do.”
Dr David Wetmore, a professor of com
puter science at Brevard since 1985. came
“I had to decide at the time
that I liked teaching
better than research.”
— Bob Glesener
here from another school for a change of
pace, the superiority of the BC computer
facilities to those of the school he left, and
Brevard’s location — Wetmore likes
backpacking. He sums up by saying, “I
stay because I’m having fun.”
Dr. Clara Wood saw BC as a stepping
stone to something better when she arriv
ed here in 1976. After a semester she decid
ed that Brevard was what she was looking
for. “Doc” Wood, professor of English and
Chairman of the Division of the
Humanities, enjoys working with
underclassmen studying a variety of dif
ferent majors. She offers this reflection
the past 12 years, “It’s been just a wonder
ful working environment t)^ause of the
teachers, the people I work with.”
Dr. Byrdie Eason, professor of physical
education and Chairman of the Division of
Physical Education Uught 25 years at the
University of Southwestern Louisiana
before coming to BC in 1981. Eason affirms
the staple advantages of BC life: the in
timate, familial atmosphere, the freedom
to suggest improvements and be heard,
and an undercurrent of excitement that
brews in the attitudes of the faculty, bubbl
ing over in the words of Eason, This
president (Greer) and this dean
(Langley), and this college are on the way
to great things...with this new leadership.
I’m very excited.”
Professor of Art Tim Murray, who since
1963 has been director of the Coltrane Art
Center at BC, has remained at Brevard in
part because “one has time for artistic
creativity aside from being a teacher.”
Murray was recommended to Brevard
College by UNC-CH where he was working
on his master’s degree in creative arts
Murray, who was born in England, say he
loves this area because of its resemblance
to the English countryside.
An acclaimed painter and sculptor in the
Southeast, Murray finds Brevard’s loca
tion to be a convenient hub from which he
can promote his work.
Another regional “star” in his field,
pianist Tony Sirianni also likes the central
location BC provides for opportunity.
Sirianni, who likes to work in a i>er-
sonal setting at Brevard, says, “I like hav
ing a small studio where I can give my stu
dents individual attention.” Sirianni says
he enjoys having a practice room across
the hall so he can hear his students and be
accessible to them.
Size is also an important factor to Sirian
ni, who has attended both Michigan State
University with a student Ixxiy of 50,(KK),
and North Texas State with 25,000
students. “I didn’t even know the names of
the presidents or the deans — much less
what they looked like,” he says.
Sirianni also says that Brevard College’s
size allows him to solve problems on a per
sonal basis.
Like Murray, Sirianni enjoys the
freedom to perform regionally as an artist.
“The school gives me the freedom to
(perform), which is one of the reasons I
stay.”
Sirianni, along with violinist Kate Ran
som, will perform at the Carnegie Hall’s
Weill Recital Hall, Feb.4.
These teachers, and others like them,
don’t have to teach at Brevard. They had a
choice, and they chose Brevard — often
for many of the same reason students do.
Perhaps a small paragraph from Dr.
Zimmerman’s resume would best describe
the average BC teacher’s reason for
deciding in favor of a “teaching” institu
tion like Brevard:
“My career goals are oriented primarily
toward teaching. I enjoy the challenge of
bringing students to see the pertinence and
value of issues they presumed were dusty
and lifeless. I think good teaching compels
this feel for life even as it transmits infor
mation.”
“1 am not as interested in
doing research as 1 am in
teaching.”
-Clarke Wellborn