8The Tar Heel Thursday, June 5, 1986
'Papa Collier' opts
for right chemistry
By JUUA WHITE
Staff Writer
To a college freshman homesick
for the familiarity of high school, a
friendly face would be welcomed.
That's just what F. Nash Collier,
chemistry professor emeritus., has
taken on as his task at the University
befriending new chemistry
students.
Wearing a sign proclaiming his
student-given title, "Papa Collier,"
the retired professor comes in every
afternoon to help more than 1,300
new chemistry students in lab. After
coming to the University in 1957,
Collier has tried to intergrate an ideal
he learned while teaching at Howard
College.
"I'd like to establish the small
school' feeling here at Carolina
whenever possible," he said. "I have
a policy I call 'speak to a stranger.'
I try to get all my students to speak
to at least one stranger per day."
Collier says he likes to think of
his students as children, from whom
he learns many lessons. "We talk
about everything from homework to
their personal life," he said. "1 try to
give them advice. You could call it
kind of a love-lorn advice relation
ship. "The students in return give him
ideas for a very unchemical type
hobby poetry.
His poetry ranges in topic from his
wife to people he observes to a boa
constrictor named Alice. A section
title poem "Admonition on Brevity"
says it all: "Be brief." Another gives
his "Writer's Pact:"" We agree to read
one another,; And whom we can't
endure to read, To praise." He also
deals with more serious subjects, such
as nature in "The Wonder of this
Day:""Dune grass arching from sand
to sand Flutters sharply, Wax
bright leaves of salt-enduring plants
Bounce in the glare, Contesting with
their shadowsThe sting of sand,
wind driven, Needles me to cogniz
ance Of the wonder of this day."
As his poetry shows the humor and
insight of this soft-spoken Southern
gentleman, his greenhouse shows his
care for nature. He has over 400
1
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Tar Heel Jamie Cobb
Dr. 'Papa Collier makes his chemistry classes more palatable
different kinds of cactus and succu
lent plants that he cares for every day.
"You cant get these kind of plants
in the wild, since they are often
endangered species," Collier said.
"They have to be imported. Mostly
they grow in greenhouses around the
U.S." On his desk in Venable Hall
is a tribute to his favorite plant, a
dried out skeleton of a cactus plant.
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Another "item on his desk is a
miniature statue of the Roman god
of fire. Vulcan. "This statue stands
in Birmingham, where I grew up, and
one day I stood right here on the
space between his ear and his
shoulder when I was young," he says
proudly. His desk also holds a small
stuffed otter and a copy of his book
of poetry, "A Right of Birds."
After leaving Birmingham, he
received a degree from Howard
College and got his master's and
doctorate degrees from Ohio State
University. He said he loves living
in Chapel Hill, having been at UNC
since he began teaching.
"This town is so liberal, you can
do or be anything you want," he said.
"No one looks at you funny when
you want to do your own thing."
Collier and his wife Esther live
alone now that their three children,
Martha, Cathy and David, are grown
and are pursuing graduate degrees
from the University.
Collier's' advice on academic mat
ters is free-flowing. "If you want to
go into chemistry you should be a
consistently good student and like
math," he said. "Chemistry needs
good structural organization. You
cant learn it all in one semester or
year." Many of his students will
readilv apree with this noint.
He also advises everyone to get out
and do some exec ;se every day. He
does calisthenics every night to keep
him looking young. His poem "The
Bones" tells of his opinion on
growing older: u The bones of the
spine,' Explained the orthopedist,
'Wear unevenly.' 'The bones wear,'
I muttered, Walking away,l always
thought some things. . .''and so,
once did I,'Croaked a stoneOn its
way to sand."
The poetry habit that he picked
up late one sleepless night has
developed into 300 poems. He plans
to publish a new collection soon titled
"Speak to a Stranger." In the back
of his current book he tells what
causes his fatherly attitude to the
"children" of the University.
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