The Professor as Undergraduate Advisor

Tamara S. Bollis-Pecci
Columbus State University

All of us have some type of memento – those trinkets that remind us of good times we have experienced, of our past successes, or of important events. Perhaps some of you carry a picture in your wallet or a good luck charm that makes you smile whenever you take it out. Today I’d like to share with you some mementos that I carry with me always – albeit in a more metaphorical sense. I’d like to tell you how a caring teacher named Don Williams served as a mentor to an overconfident 18-year old undergraduate named Tamara Bollis.

I use the term "mentor" quite intentionally here. Although my presentation today is titled "The Professor as Undergraduate Advisor," I believe he was so much more than simply an advisor. While most anyone can advise a student as to what classes to take in what sequence, or how to graduate on time, it takes the caring soul of a special teacher to be a mentor. You see, it was never required of him to be my advisor. No paper work exists on file that would indicate he was my academic advisor. Instead, he chose willingly to give his time to help this undergraduate be a success.

Dr. Williams taught me so many valuable lessons, many of which are central to who I am as a student, as a teacher, as a future scholar, and as a person. It would be difficult to talk about these lessons apart from who Don Williams is and the impact he had on my early years in the discipline. Dr. Williams helped to light the fire in me of my eternal quest for knowledge, my respect and admiration for the research and scholars of our discipline, and my desire to become one of these fine scholars myself someday. Allow me to take a moment to share with you some of the "mementos", if you will, that Don Williams gave to me.

I can still remember the first time I met with Dr. Williams in his office in Dauer Hall at the University of Florida. It was like a museum, filled with journal, books, photographs, and souvenirs from travels abroad. As I sunk down into a huge, leather-covered chair, I was filled with both awe and envy. He noticed and commented on my apparent amazement, and I said to him, "Dr. Williams, I hope that one day I can accomplish half of what you have done, and teach in half the number of places you have." He smiled in his patient and knowing way, and said, "Tamara, there is nothing preventing you from doing twice what I have done." I will never forget that moment, because talking with Don Williams that day changed the way I saw myself and the goals I had set. It was because of that conversation that I chose to study in Mexico, and eventually return there to conduct research. Don Williams helped me to see beyond my small life in Gainesville, Florida and recognize that the limits I saw were self-imposed. He inspired me to be the very best I could be.

One a more personal level, my parent still hold a more physical "memento" of what Don Williams meant to me. After meeting my parents, during the Florida Communication Association annual conference in my hometown, Dr. Williams sent my parents a postcard. I assure you, this was no ordinary note of thanks for dinner. In fact, it made my parents cry. You see, in that postcard, Dr. Williams told my parents about his faith in my future success and his thoughts about me as a student. My parents still have and cherish that postcard and remain grateful that a teacher at such a large state university would invest his time and interest for the well being of their child.

Because I valued his opinion, one day in a meeting with Dr. Williams, I asked him to tell me what it would take to be a successful rhetorical scholar. His reply was simple – that I would have to study with the best, and he offered several suggestions as to whom the best might be. One suggestion that I thought could never become a reality eventually did. As a Masters student at the University of Memphis, I found myself sitting in class anticipating studying rhetoric under a former, well known student of Don Williams, Dr. Michael Osborn. As classroom routine would have it, the students were required to introduce themselves to Dr. Osborn and the rest of the class. However, I was never able to finish my self-introduction, for just as I was saying "and my undergraduate work was at the University of Florida in rhetoric…," Mike Osborn suddenly took a keen interest in what I was saying, leaned across the table, and interrupted with "So, are you one of Don’s kids?" Startled, I responded with "You mean Don Williams? Why yes, I studied with him many times." At that moment, Mike Osborn sank back in his chair, winked at me and smiled. I knew then that I had made the connection that Dr. Williams had laid the foundation for. I also knew that I would have to work hard to live up to the expectations that would be set for one of Don Williams’ students.

Dr. Williams, at this moment I am only two years away from earning my PhD in the discipline, and you are a part of that. I could have given up many times, yet I kept hearing you tell me how capable I was. I am a teacher now myself, and the way that I teach and advise my students is in part a result of the example you set through your teaching and advising. You pushed me and encouraged me to reach beyond what I thought I was capable of. You had endless patience and never lost faith in me.

In a discipline where we consider ourselves fortunate if a handful of people read our work, our best legacy is perhaps the work that our students will do someday. So, Dr. Williams, on the occasion of your retirement, I hope that you will not think of this as your life’s work coming to an end, but rather, your work taking on a new beginning. I promise to be one of those who will carry on the exemplary work that you have done. I will strive to teach and advise as you have and I will work to be the type of scholar and advisor I know you wanted me to be. I will carry the torch.

Dr. Williams, on this, the celebration of the work you have done and the commemoration of your retirement, I would like to thank you. Thank you for believing in me, even when the vote wasn’t unanimous. Thank you for inspiring, motivating, and teaching me. Thank you Don Williams for being my mentor and for the many mementos that you have given me.