Acting Chair. Department of Engineering Technology
I was inspired to teach because of my grandmother (who was a 1959 Valley graduate). She was an elementary school educator for 42 years, and I saw the impact she had on her students’ lives after meeting a lot of them over the years and hearing them express their compassion for her.
What do you love about teaching at MVSU?
There are two reasons I love teaching at MVSU: The main reason I enjoy teaching at MVSU is the size of the university. Because the university is not very large, I get an opportunity to get to know each student I teach and build a meaningful bond with each one of them. Furthermore, teaching at MVSU enables me to teach several students who have similar backgrounds to mine. These are students from small, impoverished areas in the Mississippi Delta, who often come from failing school districts. I seek to inspire them and show them that they made a great choice by choosing an HBCU because I, too, chose a Mississippi HBCU and was inspired by teachers who had similar backgrounds to mine.
Beyond your subject-area or discipline, what do you hope students gain from being in your classroom?
I would hope that students learn life lessons that will help them during their journey in life. I attempt to use real-life scenarios when applicable to explain concepts in class so students will understand concepts easier and gain knowledge about things to come in their life. Then, there are times we discuss situations in life, and I try to provide them with sound advice that will help them in the years to come.
Tell us a fun or interesting fact about yourself.
I don’t know any fun facts about myself (I don’t consider myself to be real fun). Maybe some will be interested to know that I am a military veteran who was deployed to Camp Arifjan Kuwait during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003.
If you could have dinner with one person, alive or not, who would it be and why?
The one person I would have dinner with again would be Mrs. Annie W. Skinner (my grandmother). I would like to enjoy one more of her home-cooked meals and get an opportunity to sit, laugh, and get advice about situations I encounter like I use to.
What is your favorite book and why?
Although I’m considered an educator, I’m one of those who will wait for the movie rather than read the book. So I guess I will give the cliché answer, the Bible. In all seriousness, the Bible is my favorite book because there is no other book on the planet that has the right advice on how to handle any situation in the right way. I believe God ordained it, and it teaches humans how to respect and love each other, whether they are believers, like myself, or non-believers.