For professors one of the biggest awards they can get during their stent is the Professor Emeritus. I recently was able to ask Donna Fletcher who was recently awarded Professor Emeritus about her experiences.
Fletcher was awarded Professor Emeritus in the Sociology, Geography, and Social Work Department. She said “… to be selected by a panel of my peers to this prestigious award made the honor of being selected as professor emeritus the greatest achievement of my professional career”. Which means not only did she have a great impact on the people she worked with but to know of this impact and be rewarded for it rewarding in more ways than one.
Fletcher is also very well known for her social work specifically working to increase diversity. She served many years in different organizations in and out of Sinclair working to push for diversity. Some of the projects she did during her career were; Achieving the Dream, Urban African American Mentoring Program, Grow Your Own, Kente Celebration, International Education, and working with the Center for Teaching and Learning to develop Diversity training for faculty and students.
I asked her what reason she specifically had for wanting to go into diversity work; what her drive was. She wanted to be an agent of change, having seen so much discrimination and witnessing “many people who were committed to fighting prejudice and discrimination even to the point of making the ultimate sacrifice”. So she chose to go into any career with the desire to make a change for the better in diversity.
Sinclair though was her main place of outreach for it was the place she worked at since the 80’s. Which is why some projects are traceable to Sinclair, but not limited to Sinclair.
She said her career at Sinclair made every day a learning experience for her just as much as it was for a student coming into the classroom. Including going to say that another of the benefits was, “… working with talented, inspired and selfless individuals who served as administrators, faculty and staff all committed to the mission of student success”. Which I feel is a very inspirational outlook to working someplace; especially one where you have such an impactful role.
Fletcher ended it off by saying,
“I became a professor because I love learning. Learning was a tool to achieve my goals in life. I wanted to share that love of learning with students as a means to achieving their life goals. Love is something that Chat GBT and A & I will never be able to share”
Which no matter how you look at A.I. will have gaps in how to interact and will never completely be as real.
I feel it was important to look into our former professor. She is a wonderful woman who has worked hard for change and promoting diversity. It is something we can all strive for.
Faith Harrel
Staff Writers