Jeanette Adkins was told to enjoy her retirement when her anniversary at TCC came around. She said she laughed.
“They thought I was retiring because I had worked 50 years,” Adkins said. “You’re not gonna miss me because I’m still here.”
In 1975, Adkins was hired by TCC to teach in the Office Occupations Department, which later became the Office Administration. She started by instructing business classes, and according to her biography, taught up to 20 different subjects.
Adkins explained that she values the work of teaching her students because she is aware of the different life every student faces.
“I don’t just teach them as students. I teach them as individuals with individual problems and individual desires and so forth,” she said. “It’s very important to me.”
To fill her teaching load, she started instructing in developmental English/writing, as well as office systems technology in 1997.
She was eventually given the title of coordinator of the developmental English/writing program and enrolled herself at the University of Texas at Arlington to teach in higher-level English.
“When I was in grade school, I was always good with grammar,” she said. “I was always a pretty good writer, but I really pride myself in knowing my grammar and my punctuation.”
Currently instructing English at NE Campus, she has participated in events such as annual Poetry Jam, Under the Clock Tower, the African American Read-In, and Living Literature.
“It’s good working around people that you know are nice people,” she said. “The English faculty, they’re such good people.”
NE English professor Shewanda Riley is in the position that Adkins was in when she first started. She explained that Adkin’s work throughout the years shines through her early efforts at TCC.
“I get to benefit from that work that she did early on,” she said. “I can kind of build upon what she established being one of the kind of pioneers here at TCC.”
Riley explained that Adkin’s mindset is admirable and appreciates watching her dedication and loyalty to her work and the people around her.
“You know, she’s always got the mindset that she’s here to support the students, which is the most important thing,” she said. “Even though students, I’m sure, have changed over the years from when she first started, the students are still her first priority.”
Riley said that she enjoys listening to the stories Adkins shares about the college and recalls a conversation they had about the Joint Consultation Committee chapter at NE Campus, in which Riley is the current president of. Adkins explained that she was a part of the steering committee that put the organization together.
“She played an integral part in that organization, coming to be and setting the foundation for it,” she said.
Stacy Stuewe, another NE English professor, said Adkins is the kind of colleague a person wants to have because she works so hard.
With all the experience Adkins has gained over the 50 years, Stuewe says the kind of knowledge Adkins possesses is necessary for college development.
“She’s amazing and has all of that institutional memory, which is so important, because sometimes we have these ideas about policy, and then we talk to someone who has institutional memory who has been here for a long time,” she said.
Stuewe said recent advice that her father gave her is to never retire. In Adkins’ case, Stuewe says Adkins is always growing.
“She’s been here 50 years, but still, she’s improving,” Stuewe said. “She’s taking professional development classes so that she can teach blended classes and online classes, so that’s really exciting to see how she’s cutting edge.”
Adkins explains that her advice in teaching is to understand the perspective of her students, and that hearing their stories creates connections.
“You have to listen to what students are going through. Many of our students work full time, and they’re experiencing things that we have no knowledge on unless they tell it,” she said.
