Tom Stewart Interview (Part II): A Little Bit About the Man Behind SPEEDE.
2004; American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers; Volume: 80; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
0010-0889
Autores Tópico(s)Education Systems and Policy
ResumoOn a beautiful afternoon in the Bayside area of Miami, I sat down with Tom Stewart to get to know what makes him tick. Although admittedly shy and more comfortable as an attentive listener, he is also friendly and accommodating. He graciously agreed to share his thoughts about some of the important experiences in his life. Tom is that rare bird, a native Floridian, from West Palm Beach, 68 miles north of his Miami home. He received a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering in 1956 from the University of Florida where he was president of his Alpha Tau Omega fraternity chapter. After graduating from UF, he moved to Texas to work at Dow Chemical Company. He spent three years in the U.S. Air Force, and in 1964 he returned to UF and earned a master's degree in Teaching Math. In the summer of 1965, he started his career at MiamiDade Junior College as a math instructor. We began in Florida and from there traveled the world. What it was like growing up in the South in the 1930s and '4Os? It wasn't any different from anywhere else. Of course, there was segregation. It was open. We had a black laundress. She would come to our house or we would take the laundry over to her house. We would drive through the segregated, black neighborhood. I remember when I was seven and I offered her a glass of water. It was hot and she had been working all day. My father threw the glass away. He showed me the jar she was supposed to drink from. I didn't understand. It was a small town. I liked to read, nothing special, and I had a stamp collection that didn't amount to much. I was in the Boy Scouts. I liked the Boy Scouts. I liked earning badges. I got a feeling of success, closure. It was finite. I went to jamborees, one in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, and the other at the University of Colorado in Boulder. I went there on the train by myself. The campus was beautiful. I was fifteen and on my own. I even had to change trains. My parents weren't happy, of course. Those were the days before cell phones, but I enjoyed it. It sounds like the Boy Scouts was the start of your travel bug. Where do you like to go when you travel? What do you like to do? I traveled a lot for AACRAO and SACRAO. I go wherever there's good beer. I've been to Munich, to Oktobcrfest, three times and to Frankfurt. Frankfurt's a modern, business city. There's a great train station in Frankfurt. I like the idea of being able to get on a train. The old town in Frankfurt is right behind the central train station. The old town's beautiful. I especially like to meet people in the field. And drink beer. I got a chance to travel when I was in the Air Force. I went to the Hofbrauhaus in Munich with an Air Force friend. 1 Ie was a Jew. We were drinking at a table with a German from the Luftwaffe. Luftwaffe, the German Air Force? A Nazi? Yes, we were drinking and it came out that my friend was a Jew. Nobody cared. It was not an issue. I guess beer is what keeps us together. Did you like the Air Force? Yes, the Air Force was good. I had authority and responsibility and a chance to travel. Before that I was working in Freeport, a little town in Texas. Seventy percent of the town worked for Dow. It was too small. Everyone knew your business. I didn't like what I was doing at Dow. I didn't like chemical engineering. I liked analysis. The air was toxic. This was before environmental protection, no EPA. You didn't know what you were breathing. I didn't get anything interesting to do until I decided to leave. An Air Force recruiter got me interested. It was the honorable way out, going into the Air Force. He didn't get me in. I got myself in. I joined under a special program, so I could enter as a second lieutenant. I was a supply officer. I helped close the air force bases in France near the border with Germany. I loved Germany and German beer. France was beautiful but the French weren't friendly until you really got to know them. …
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