Pupil to Professor
Professor Glenn McNair Reflects on His Time as an Undergrad
Laura Goehrke
Issue date: 2/4/10 Section: Features
Many students know Associate Professor of History Glenn McNair as the suave and savvy history professor of Kenyon's faculty. Others know him as "the professor who used to be in the FBI." But before all of that, McNair himself was once a college student.
McNair decided to attend Savannah State University in Georgia, a historically black university, because it was close to home and his plans for his education were not immediately clear, he said in an interview with the Collegian. Unmotivated to really start his collegiate experience, he spent a semester working at a local glass warehouse, and by the end of his time there he realized that he wanted - and needed - to go to college.
For McNair, college meant an increased workload. While college was a bit jolting academically, he felt comfortable with the school's size. He knew the campus intimately because of his involvement as a trumpeter in his high school band, which played in the college's football stadium several times. It turned out to be a comfortable transition because many of his classmates from high school matriculated there as well.
McNair's college experience was not typical - he never lived on campus, commuting from home all four years, and he took two years off after his sophomore year to work full time for the police force. Like many college students, he changed his major several times. McNair entered college as a potential music major, but he could not picture himself being a music teacher. Then he tried out the business major; it was "nightmarish, and the most horrible experience ever," he said. He even remembers scribbling desperate notes to himself in class, like "this is completely insane," just to pass the time. During his first two years at Savannah State University, McNair was an average student at best. "I felt indifferent and uncertain about my classes and education," he said.
McNair realized that he needed to take time off to figure out what he wanted to do, so he went back to the glass factory for a year. He knew that the factory lifestyle was not for him and began to think of career paths. "I knew I didn't want a white-collar job, but I also knew that I didn't want a blue-collar job," he said. "So I thought, what about a light-blue-collar job?"
McNair decided to attend Savannah State University in Georgia, a historically black university, because it was close to home and his plans for his education were not immediately clear, he said in an interview with the Collegian. Unmotivated to really start his collegiate experience, he spent a semester working at a local glass warehouse, and by the end of his time there he realized that he wanted - and needed - to go to college.
For McNair, college meant an increased workload. While college was a bit jolting academically, he felt comfortable with the school's size. He knew the campus intimately because of his involvement as a trumpeter in his high school band, which played in the college's football stadium several times. It turned out to be a comfortable transition because many of his classmates from high school matriculated there as well.
McNair's college experience was not typical - he never lived on campus, commuting from home all four years, and he took two years off after his sophomore year to work full time for the police force. Like many college students, he changed his major several times. McNair entered college as a potential music major, but he could not picture himself being a music teacher. Then he tried out the business major; it was "nightmarish, and the most horrible experience ever," he said. He even remembers scribbling desperate notes to himself in class, like "this is completely insane," just to pass the time. During his first two years at Savannah State University, McNair was an average student at best. "I felt indifferent and uncertain about my classes and education," he said.
McNair realized that he needed to take time off to figure out what he wanted to do, so he went back to the glass factory for a year. He knew that the factory lifestyle was not for him and began to think of career paths. "I knew I didn't want a white-collar job, but I also knew that I didn't want a blue-collar job," he said. "So I thought, what about a light-blue-collar job?"
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