The Altshuler Learning Enhancement Center director Ben Thomas and retired SMU biology professor John McCartney speak at Thomas’ retirement party two weeks ago. (Kevin Todora)
In his office Ben Thomas has books stacked from floor to ceiling. Topics ranging from Greek mythology to calculus derivatives line his walls. Working out of basically a library, he has helped shape SMU students’ education for the last 20 years – and has decided to turn the page on his tutoring career.
“At the end of the day I am just going to lock the door behind me when I leave, I am sort of about to end this chapter,” Thomas said.
Thomas was director of the Altsuler Learning Enhancement Center. A tutoring guru, he was one of the forefathers of the tutoring center and played a vital roll in its success today.
When he came to the university 20 years ago in 1989, the tutoring center consisted of a few tutors and only four staff members, ALEC Assistant Director Adreana Julander said. Now the center has 60 to 70 tutors covering all subjects and routinely has students lined up for tutoring, Julander said.
“I think that is really my biggest accomplishment in my time here,” Thomas said. “Helping to build the LEC into what it is today has been so gratifying.”
As director of the tutoring center, Thomas had the directive of hiring and training all the tutors. This gave him the means to touch countless tutors’ lives and impart to them the gift of knowledge, according to ALEC Assistant Director Patricia Feldman.
“He invented the approach to tutoring. His view of learners helping each other and mentors helping each other, that was Ben’s vision,” Feldman said. “He really helped so many reach their full potential.”
Aside from being a teaching model for the tutors, Thomas also enjoyed a deeper relationship with them, many still to this day.
“All of my greatest memories are with the great people I’ve had the pleasure of working with over the years. It is impossible to choose only one,” he said. “From some of the very first tutors to the ones about to graduate now – graduating as am I – we are all working to figure out the next chapters in our lives,” said Thomas.
One memory he recalled was that of a student in a recent semester that was struggling in a calculus class. The student had a B+ in the class and was striving for an A-. The student came in all the time for help and even though he couldn’t take credit for the student’s success, he was very happy to a part of such a hard working story.
Thomas recalled some of the pre-med tutors that worked for him when he first arrived at SMU. He said they still keep in touch and many are practicing MDs today. He said he went to get an eye exam and it was one of his old pre-med tutors that examined him. “A small world,” he said.
Felding said Thomas was always beaming with news of past tutors that sent him life updates.
“Some tutors he worked with are like family to Ben,” she said. “I remember he would always come into my office and be so excited about good news. He would tell me about past tutors’ baby announcements or such and such just got into the CIA, tutors 5, 10, 15 years out from graduation. He would always have a wonderful smile on his face – he’s like that wonderful old uncle you always think of.”
Felding said in a DVD at his retirement party interviews were done with past tutors -many of which talked about the way he taught and the way they have learned from Thomas and how it has helped to make their careers. One past tutor is now a teacher in medical school because of Thomas’ influence.
Thomas had originally signed only a two-year contract back in 1989 with the University, but Thomas jokes about how two years turned into 20. He says helping students were what kept him here.
“The attraction of making a difference to the University was what made the difference. It was an important energizer in keeping my job,” Thomas said.
The difference Thomas made to the University was not a secret, especially among his superiors in the administration.
“There are those at any university who quietly make huge differences in the lives of countless students, and Ben is one of those,” Associate Provost Tom Tunks said. “His careful attention to our tutoring program and to the tutors who have worked there through the years has been of central importance to the success of our Altshuler Learning Enhancement Center. We will miss him very much.”
Those that have worked with him know Thomas as the great intellect that he is, but also the deeper person that brought joy to many in his time spent at the learning center.
“Puns and his sense of humor are one of his greatest qualities. He could pull a famous quote out of nowhere to meet any situation,” Feldman said. “But it isn’t just intellect that makes up Ben Thomas, it is also his humor, heart, how much he cares about people, all in one package.”
Now that Thomas has decided to hang up his tutoring hat, he views the next chapter of his life as a metamorphosis. He said the retirement title is somewhat of a farce as he views it as just a financial step in his life, but does not intend to live up to its meaning.
He said he wants to take some time to learn. He made the analogy of Boulder, Colorado, saying that it is centered exactly on the line between the Rocky Mountain and the Great Plains. He said he is a man in the city and “not going up into the mountains to see what is there is not a crime, but who wouldn’t want to explore?” He said that first year biology students are now learning things that weren’t even known when he took biology.
Thomas then summed up his thoughts on retirement and his personality as a whole.
“There is so much knowledge out there to be learned, why ignore it when it is so wonderful.”
