Dr. Lynn Alexander, retiring dean of the College of Humanities and Fine Arts, has worked at UT Martin since 1989. | Photo / Pacer staff
Entering Dr. Lynn Alexander’s office, you are greeted with a wide-open room and books lining the walls from floor to ceiling. There, sitting at her computer desk, is the dean of Humanities and Fine Arts, busily preparing for her retirement after 34 years at UT Martin.
Alexander’s final day will be June 30. Her office will, then, be empty and waiting for the next dean to make it their own. Until then, the faculty has made multiple announcements of her departure. One of her sendoff parties involved a specially made cake on April 13 – the day of the last Interdisciplinary Student Writing Conference she attended as dean.
Her arrival at UT Martin in 1989 began with luck in the job market. Traveling from her childhood hometown in Oklahoma to overseas locations, like England, she decided to choose Martin, Tennessee, as her home. However, she did not expect to stay.
“When I was hired, I thought I would be here three, maybe four or five years, then move on to another job, but I found I really liked UT Martin,” Alexander said, recalling how UT Martin was the only college she found that allowed her to teach a variety of classes.
She liked UT Martin so much, in fact, that, from 2006 to 2010, she and Dr. David Coffey, current chair of the Department of History and Philosophy at UT Martin, were temporary co-deans together.
“When our previous dean took a different position,” Coffey said, “we talked amongst ourselves, amongst the department chairs, and we didn’t really want to hire another dean, and none of us really wanted to give up our department head jobs. Dr. Alexander and I agreed to split the job and keep our department head jobs but divide the responsibilities of the Dean’s job. … I think we did a pretty good job.”
Before her career took off, Alexander found her enjoyment in books, which she still does today. Learning from literature is what inspired her to teach in the first place.
“The reality is reading books, talking about books, writing about books, is probably the most fun I can imagine,” Alexander said. “The idea of being able to do that to earn a living is about as exciting as I can imagine. As a dean, I get to help other people do things they’re equally passionate about.”
Her passions do not end with literature, though. Her plans for retirement involve plenty of travel, as well. Her former student, current friend and consistent travel buddy, Dr. Heather Dawn Wilkins, a professor of Biology at UT Martin, is involved in some of these post-work excursions.
“We’d gone on vacation … to Iceland a couple years ago, and we’re getting ready to go to Greece this Summer,” Wilkins said.
As Alexander and Wilkins prepare for their trip, the dean wants to make the transition easier for her successor.
“I’m trying to make it easy for someone to come in and work with the faculty and work with students. I’m trying to leave it so that whoever steps into this office can put their own stamp on what they do, but they won’t have a bunch of stuff they have to clean up,” Alexander said.
While Alexander prepares for the new dean’s arrival, others have concerns over the change.
“Dr. Alexander is … one of the few women in leadership positions on the academic side of our university, and I would like to see that continued,” Coffey said. “I would like to see this position continue to be a position of diversity.”
Her retirement is not where Alexander’s story ends, though. As Wilkins said, “She may be short in stature, but she has a big presence” that will continue to stretch beyond her travels. In fact, she plans to work after retirement, as well – starting in Germany.
The chair of English and Modern Foreign Languages at UT Martin, Dr. Jeffrey Longacre, said he wants her to enjoy the retirement she has earned, praising all her contributions to the campus.
“As somebody who has been here a very long time in Martin and at UTM, she’s certainly left her imprint and has done a lot for reading, literature, and the arts in this community through the donation of her time and money,” Longacre said. “Not to mention working with all of us [faculty] individually, helping to shape the vision of this department.”
Still, although she has an eagerness to start the next chapter of her life, she is not so eager to leave her students.
“The students are who I’m going to miss,” Alexander said with tears in her eyes. “The students are what will bring me back. I want them to know that they are why we [the faculty] are here, and we don’t forget it.”
“Occasionally, we get caught up in other things we’re doing … but the students are why we’re here. That feedback from the students is what makes teaching and being a dean worthwhile. That’s what I hope people don’t forget,” she said.
