Dr. Griffin
By Jacob Bradner, The Whetstone
Dr. Tery Griffin loves staring at her bookshelf in her office.
It contains rows of books on Photoshop, Alfred Hitchcock movies, and fiction and non-fiction nominated for Pushcart Prizes.
Sporting a dark blue buttoned-up shirt and glasses, Griffin says she yearns to read more, but just doesn’t have the time as a full-time college professor.
“I really want to read,†Griffin said. “My sort of dream for next winter is to stay inside on those big snowy days and read.â€
Now she can do that. Griffin has announced her retirement from Wesley after the spring 2016 semester.
Griffin wishes to do other things besides reading that she can’t find the time for, including photography, playing guitar, watching more movies, and visiting family.
Griffin has been teaching since 1989, first as an undergraduate student at the University of Michigan. She taught three years at Westfield State University in Massachusetts, and 10 years at Wesley College.
She has taught many classes, including Digital Media Literacy, Web Design, Media History, Photography, and Desktop Publishing.
Despite her interest in those classes, Griffin’s favorite class to teach was fiction writing. She taught this while an undergraduate student and throughout her Master’s program.
She said she realized, however, that a doctorate in English would probably not help her to get a full-time job, so she switched her doctorate into something more practical: communications.
Although not everything turned out as she wanted, Griffin said she enjoyed teaching Media Arts at Wesley College.
She’s not happy with the tight budget of the department, but Griffin said she was glad she chose Wesley over a big state school.
“I went to a small undergrad college, I wanted to be at a small undergrad college,†says Griffin. “So yeah, it’s worked out pretty well.â€
