Ed Board would like to take a moment to thank Marshall Terry for his great contributions to this university.
Terry has spent nearly three-fourths of his life at SMU. He began as a student and his passion for SMU was undeniable, so he stayed.
And lucky for us he did.
Terry is not only an incredible English professor, but a great person as well. Ed Board admires Terry for his passion and accomplishments over the years.
Those of us who have had Terry as a professor have experienced greatness at its best. One of the signs of a writer is storytelling. Terry loves to tell stories. He often ended class with a short story he’d written or by telling a story from his days as a student. And every now and then he’d break into song. His stories were generally happy ones with a certain spark to them that made them all his own. Terry has a written voice unlike any other – it’s playful and intelligent.
Terry looks for the life in his students and finds a way to help them put it on paper.
As much as he enjoys telling stories, Terry loves to listen to them as well. A typical day in his creative writing class was spent with students reading their latest creative works followed by peer critiques and Terry’s helpful advice.
Ed Board has yet to encounter a single member of the SMU community who has something bad to say about Terry. It’s hard to find the bad in a person whose face is always lit up with a smile.
We are sad to see him go, but knowing the mutual love between Terry and his alma mater, we believe he will be spotted on campus regularly. Whether he’s checking up on former students or keeping his colleagues on their toes, we will surely be happy to see Mr. SMU.
While SMU is losing an incredible professor, the administration should be hunting down additional talent. It’s time to entertain new ideas and expand administration’s policies. Ivy League professors across the country are interested in teaching at SMU for a semester at a time, wanting the option to leave when the semester is over. SMU is more focused on signing them to contracts that tie the talented professors to the university for, at minimum, a year. Rarely does SMU allow professors to teach for just a semester.
Perhaps if the administration let loose a little and allowed creative professors like Terry to share their intellect with us, even if it’s only for a semester at a time, the SMU student body would benefit greatly.