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Number one, I like the democratic nature of a community college, the fact

that everybody has a shot, and the open-door accessibility. On a philosophical

level, I like what community college is about. And secondly, because communi-

ty colleges offer several opportunities to do and study lots of different things as

opposed to a four-year college where you get slotted very quickly.

While I’ve been here, I’ve been able to counsel, do student activities, do

administrative work, been able to teach. I’ve been all around the college doing

different things, and I wouldn’t have gotten to do that at a four-year school. I’ve

really enjoyed the flexibility, the variety, and the challenge.

I had only planned on being here for three years to gain experience, and then

to move on to a different college, but here I am a lifetime later still at FCC

Tuscarora Review: Is there something about FCC specifically that made

youwant to stay?

Dr. Sheldon:

[Chuckles] Well, one thing that happened is that I fell in love

with a girl who ended up becoming my wife. I met her here, and she is from the

area, so that’s what’s kept me here for a while. The next thing I knew, one thing

led to another, and now I’ve been here my entire career. It was kind of ironic to

me. I only wanted to come here for three years, and now I’ve spent a lifetime.

So much for planning! [laughs] Sometimes you have to have a Plan B, and

even a Plan C. And even looking back, I don’t regret not moving on. I’ve had

great colleagues, a great experience, met a lot of great people, and I’ve had the

chance to do a lot of different things.

If I were to do it all over again in the teaching realm, I would have made the

same choice, I believe. But if I were to do an entire lifetime over again, I may or

may not have ended up teaching necessarily.

Tuscarora Review: What makes you say that?

Dr. Sheldon:

The profession is changing, and becoming more like a business

philosophically in terms of cost-effectiveness, outputs, and measuring effec-

tiveness and how well you’re doing. It’s become more about teaching students

in order for them to get a job, learning to get a job, and I’m not so sure that

there’s not a place for that, but I’m not sure that’s what education should be

all about.

Education should be about expanding people’s awareness and thinking.

Teaching them to enjoy learning and seeing the world in different ways. That

kind of gets lost in howmuch money it costs, and howmany students are able

to get jobs, and howmany people are passing or failing a course. That’s a differ-

ent focus, and increasingly moreso. I’m not sure I’d pick that the second time

around, but you never know.

Tuscarora Review: Does that put pressure on you? Knowing that you have

to cater to people in that different way?

Dr. Sheldon:

Yes, yes it does. The pressure on me is to adapt, and having

been here coming up through the collegial model of education and transition-

ing more toward the business model does put pressure on me to change, and

understand, and retool how I approach things. Being able to see the positive

and negative qualities of the business model, but still be able to hold onto some

of the things that I feel are important from the collegial model.

So yes, it is a challenge, but that’s what keeps us going. If there was nothing

challenging about teaching, we’d become stale and bored. So if nothing else,

FCC has been a challenge over the last X number of years.

Tuscarora Review: What the biggest difference between FCCwhen you

began, and FCC now?

Dr. Sheldon:

You used to know everybody, and you used to see people on

almost a daily basis. In the present day, that’s impossible. It’s too big, too busy,

too much to do, too many people. It’s hard to get around and know people.

There are a lot of people who have come to work here that I haven’t gotten a

chance to meet, and I regret that, but it’s just the size and scope of what FCC

has become.

But the students remain the same. You get all different kinds of students,

and I’ve always told people when they ask me that the students here are really

my heroes. The nature of their lives, more often than not, are very textured,

and they deal with all sorts of problems that the person at a four-year insti-

tution might not. They might be working, or have a family. They may have

financial problems, they might have kids or be married and are trying to get

their education on top of all of that.

From their perspective, that’s normal, and that’s the way life is. But having

been to a four-year college and seeing people who have time to focus exclusive-

ly on their studies is a dramatic difference. The pressures community college

students face is vastly different, and that’s what makes you all my heroes. I

enjoy working for the heroes, and that’s why I teach.

Tuscarora Review: Does that make it all themore rewarding when you

see someone coming along, grasping the concepts andmaterial, and

succeeding?

Dr. Sheldon:

Yes, yes, and that’s an interesting comment. That’s why I like

attending graduation. I truly love watching one of my students I’ve had in my

classes walk across that platform and receive their degree.

And you never know who you’re affecting. The interesting thing about all of

it. I’ll teach, and like any other instructor, at the end I’ll get the student evalu-

ations, and they’ll range anywhere from ‘super’ to ‘nuts’; you’re either a hero

or you just shouldn’t be allowed in a classroom teaching. You never truly know

who you’re impacting.

And then, one year later, five years later, ten years later, you’ll get a note from

somebody or you’ll run into somebody and they’ll say, ‘Your class was the best

class I ever took,’ and say thank you. That’s the kind of stuff that feeds the souls

of the faculty; being able to know that they were able to change and influence

somebody’s life for the better.