Fond Farewells

UNC Asheville Recognizes Retiring Faculty in 2021

By UNC Asheville

May 19^th, 2021

This year UNC Asheville is saying farewell to remarkable faculty members who have made a lasting impact on campus, from their work in the classroom in psychology, biology, computer science, management, physics, English and sociology, to their service to the University and community as leaders and innovators.

Timothy Forrest, Biology

Forrest came to UNC Asheville in 1996, after teaching biology at the University of Florida and the University of Mississippi, and neurology and behavior at Cornell University. Forrest’s courses at UNC Asheville have included zoology; entomology; principles of biological evolution; animal behavior; an honors special topics course on insects; and experimental design, analysis, and presentation.

Forrest was awarded two teaching awards during his time at UNC Asheville but says he is most proud of the founding and evolution of Bug Camp, which began as a summer day camp for middle school students in 2001. “Because it was tuition-based, our campers were mainly from more affluent families,” Forrest said. Over the years, grant funding allowed the camp to expand and become more accessible. “We offered a tuition-free, residential camp with middle school students spending a full week on campus, living in dorms, and learning science in the lab and the field.”

While Forrest says he will miss the camaraderie with colleagues and connections with students, he is looking forward to working on ongoing collaborations with former students, as well as spending time writing and art projects, playing the mandolin, and taking up the fiddle. He’s also looking forward to spending more time practicing the Japanese style of fly fishing called tenkara, for which he ties his own flies, creating “small bits of ‘art for trout.”

Tracy Brown, Psychology

Brown came to UNC Asheville in 1985 after earning his Ph.D. at Michigan State University in human experimental psychology, and more specifically, in a field that was just starting to be called cognitive neuroscience. During his years at UNC Asheville, he's taught courses in general psychology, cognitive psychology, psychology of language, and research methods. He's also seen UNC Asheville grow from a largely commuter school to a “vibrant campus community.”

“I did a lot of things in teaching, research, and service over the years that were challenging and rewarding,” Brown said, “and I think and hope that I helped UNCA achieve its mission and retain the qualities as a community that made it a strong and unique place.”

For Brown, the people of UNC Asheville were the best part of working here. “In teaching, the students at UNCA have always been great—most students came for the academics and were enthusiastic and serious about their studies. In a sense, they knew why they were here,” Brown said.

Mary Lynn Manns, Computer Science and Management

Mary Lynn Manns, who retired from UNC Asheville at the beginning of 2021, has taught at UNC Asheville since 1980 after teaching an array of classes at four other colleges including Western Carolina University, A-B Tech Community College, Blanton Community College, and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her expertise focuses on computer science, management, and accountancy.

In her time at UNC Asheville, Manns has seen the campus grow, not only in terms of buildings and facilities, but also with opportunities allowing for more involvement with the entire campus community.

Manns says she is proudest of her work spearheading the Ideas to Action initiative, a course for all majors to help develop creative innovation skills and a greater understanding of how actions matter, while exploring interests and mentorships to support the students’ innovations plans. The interdisciplinary Ideas to Action initiative is for any student interested in the entrepreneurial mindset.

“Whether you major in art or psychology or history or philosophy, you can make your ideas happen. You don't have to be a business major. That's silly,” Manns said. “So it's not about being an entrepreneur. It's about having an entrepreneurial mindset.”

Manns watched the students develop their ideas and begin working on them, ending the semesters with a pitch to local entrepreneurs.

“This sounds really like I'm being silly, but I just miss those 19-year-old eyes so much. I miss being in the classroom with them,” Manns said. “The best part of working at UNC Asheville was the variety of things we got to do with the wonderful students that I got to work with.”

Manns has hit the ground running into retirement and has no plans of slowing down. In addition to continuing work with her Fearless Change books, she’s also looking forward to spending time at the beach and watching her grandchildren grow up. Manns is also hoping to put together a website to connect retired UNC Asheville faculty and staff.

Michael Ruiz, Physics and Astronomy

Michael Ruiz, professor of physics, started at UNC Asheville in 1978 after graduating from the University of Maryland. Though the size of UNC Asheville has changed since he first started, Ruiz states that he always found students here to be amazing.

“I always found the students very personable, and that's why I kind of fell in love with UNCA,” Ruiz said. “When I came here, I just loved the place. I loved the students, and loved everything about it.”

Ruiz has enjoyed the liberal arts aspect of UNC Asheville, and how it has been integrated into the physics classes he teaches. He also teaches general education courses, as well as humanities and piano, which gave him the opportunity to interact with faculty and students in many different majors and disciplines.

Ruiz's proudest accomplishments at UNC Asheville were co-founding the Undergraduate Research Program with John Stevens, retired professor of chemistry, in 1984, followed by co-founding the National Conference and Undergraduate Research with Stevens and Merritt Moseley, retired professor of English, in 1986.

Ruiz states that he could have retired a few years ago, but had a hard time letting go of teaching. Even after retiring, he will continue to teach through new avenues, including an updated website with physics demonstrations and for the general student, and a YouTube channel with over 500 subscribers that he plans to keep working on.

“I thought I would keep contributing. I'd like to give back and with websites, you can reach the world. It's amazing,” said Ruiz.

Ruiz is excited for his new adventures, but says he’ll miss the university he’s been a part of for so long.

“I grew up with this school,” Ruiz said. “I got my Ph.D. in 1978, and this was my first job and the only job. That's pretty crazy.”

Rick Chess, English

Since joining the UNC Asheville faculty in 1989, Rick Chess has taught poetry, developed and led the English Department’s creative writing program, directed the Center for Jewish Studies, and helped to spearhead the contemplative inquiry initiative. It’s a career that was launched the first time he stepped into a classroom.

“When I walked into that first class in 1982 in Gainesville Florida, within the first 15 minutes I felt I’d found something I love, and something I feel like I can do,” Chess said of his first experience as a teaching assistant in graduate school at the University of Florida. “It sounds cheesy, but I felt like I found my calling.”

Chess said he taught then the same way he teaches today, by asking questions and then listening to what students had to say. “It was creative, and it was a discovery,” Chess said. “Day by day there was an opportunity to discover something together. That’s what was so exciting to me. The magic could happen today.”

As the Roy Carroll Professor of Honors Arts and Sciences, Chess was able to develop special topics in honors classes. “A good number of those classes really worked with spirituality and creative writing, or spirituality and poetry, and they deeply integrated serious contemplative practices,” Chess said. “I feel like those classes were one of many opportunities students have had to do something different and to work rigorously in an academic environment on aspects of their lives that they might not have had opportunities to explore elsewhere in the classroom setting.”

In addition to teaching, Chess is most proud of his work on the Faith in Literature festival in 2016, which was a gathering of writers whose work deeply engaged—by embracing, complicating, or wrestling with—a faith tradition or spiritual practice. “I feel grateful to have had the opportunity to help make that happen,” Chess said. The festival has since evolved into the Faith in Arts Institute, in partnership with Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center, where Chess serves on the board of directors.

Chess is looking forward to spending time during his retirement reading and working on his own writing, though he will miss working with his UNC Asheville colleagues, and his time in the classroom. “I will miss teaching; I won’t miss grading” Chess said. “I will miss the opportunity to interact with young people, and to learn from them.”

Karin Peterson, Sociology

Karin Peterson, professor of sociology, joined the UNC Asheville faculty in 1999, and has served in has served in several roles within the University and the UNC System. She’s been the department chair of Sociology and Anthropology; a fellow in the academic affairs division of the UNC System Office (then called General Administration); the interim provost and acting provost of UNC Asheville; and the interim provost of the UNC School of the Arts.

Now Peterson is retiring from UNC Asheville to take up a new post as the executive director of The Bascom: A Center for the Visual Arts in Highlands, North Carolina. It’s a different kind of retirement, Peterson said.

“I am using my academic background to promote the arts and the wellbeing of a community and region; I have several years left with full-time work,” Peterson said. “It’s a disruption of one kind of career, but to me, there are so many continuous pieces. I think of this as a shift rather than an ending. But it is a farewell to this organization.”

Peterson has felt especially appreciative of the cross-disciplinary work she’s been able to engage in at UNC Asheville, which included faculty members from across campus.

“That collegial relationship across disciplines is a unique piece of UNCA,” Peterson said. “It’s part of why I know the campus as a whole, but it’s also part of why my work spans multiple fields, because I learn things from other people.”

One such project was the Food for Thought interdisciplinary course cluster, which explored issues related to food production and consumption from a variety of perspectives. Another was an interdisciplinary craft study undergraduate research summer program, in which students took trips to places such as the Penland School of Crafts, and each completed an undergrad research project on how to craft related to their discipline. It’s the opportunity to engage in these collaborations with colleagues and students across campus that Peterson says she’ll miss the most.

“I’ve loved the teaching part, and that’s the hard part to leave, as well as colleagues,” Peterson said. “I’ve always felt this was the place I was meant to be. I’ve had a lot of leadership opportunities on the faculty that informed the work that I did as department chair and provost and so forth. I value the way that faculty are invited to excel at their teaching here.”

Peterson is looking forward to her new role at The Bascom, and the opportunity to use what she’s learned in her career in education in a different setting.

“I’ll miss the people, and what we’ve been able to do together,” Peterson said. “I have so much gratitude for my time at UNCA, and I believe in the mission and the people at UNCA.”