There is an old adage that if you love your job, you will never work a day in your life. I am a living example of that statement. For I am guilty of loving what I have done for over 50 years plus and have only worked a few days in that time.
Not that it has always been easy; doing research can be hard, with brutal heat or bitter cold, dealing with students can have its fair share of trials and tribulations. Grading papers can be both difficult and frustrating. Sometimes I wonder where they got that answer, it wasn’t what I said in lecture or lab.
So please let me take a few inches of this column to say “Thank you” to Jacksonville University with all of the faculty, the staff and most importantly the students, for giving me the opportunity to be part of a fantastic career that has spanned 48 years. I have been truly blessed.
Thank you also to the city of Jacksonville, Northeast Florida, and the St. Johns River. This region and its people are special. When I think of all the opportunities I have had in my career, it is amazing. We often take our environmental and ecological resources for granted.
I arrived in Jacksonville on Friday afternoon, Sept. 3, 1976. I was to be a visiting assistant professor on a two-year appointment. I replaced a professor who was on leave to teach in Kuwait. It had happened suddenly; I had been hired just two weeks prior.
In the week after I was hired, I completed my dissertation, defended it, packed and moved to Jacksonville. JU students helped me move into an apartment across the street from the university, And I walked into my first class at 8 a.m. on Labor Day, Sept. 6.
To say that I was clueless would be an understatement. I didn’t even have a class roster, a syllabus and had yet to get my copy of the textbook. Lucky for me, the students were great and understanding. They probably felt a little sorry for me and guided me through that first class.
It was later that year when a faculty member approached me to see if I was interested in starting a marine biology major at JU. I said “Yes,” but provided it was a marine science major. At that time, I had concluded that to understand the marine world, you needed not only biology, but chemistry, physics and math, along with a solid background in reading, writing and public speaking.
Since then, the marine science program has grown to be one of the largest at JU. In 2010 we built the Marine Science Research Institute and established a graduate program that has multiple degree options.
I should also mention that I met my future wife that first week too. And after seven years, we married and celebrated our 41st anniversary last June. Along the way we raised three children of whom we are incredibly proud.
Recently I was honored by the university with the Marine Science Pioneer Award. In addition to the award, an endowed fellowship was established in my name that will allow future students to study marine science. That fellowship is especially meaningful to me. I deeply appreciate the recognition but as mentioned earlier, I was just doing a job that I loved.
And yes, I will continue River Life as long as I am able.
Glad you asked River Life
Did you have a particular teacher or professor who influenced your life?
Emphatically yes! I was fortunate enough to have several. My fifth-grade teacher, Mrs. Clark, was instrumental in introducing me to science and all its wonders. Then in college, Dr. Arch Sharer was my biology professor for several classes at what is now North Carolina Wesleyan University. He was the one who saw something in me and asked me to help him teach laboratories. That experience set me on my career path to be a college professor.
