Pupil to Professor

Many students know Associate Professor of History Glenn McNair as the suave and savvy history professor of Kenyon's faculty. Others know him as "the professor who used to be in the FBI." But before all of that, McNair himself was once a college student.

McNair decided to attend Savannah State University in Georgia, a historically black university, because it was close to home and his plans for his education were not immediately clear, he said in an interview with the Collegian. Unmotivated to really start his collegiate experience, he spent a semester working at a local glass warehouse, and by the end of his time there he realized that he wanted - and needed - to go to college.

For McNair, college meant an increased workload. While college was a bit jolting academically, he felt comfortable with the school's size. He knew the campus intimately because of his involvement as a trumpeter in his high school band, which played in the college's football stadium several times. It turned out to be a comfortable transition because many of his classmates from high school matriculated there as well.

McNair's college experience was not typical - he never lived on campus, commuting from home all four years, and he took two years off after his sophomore year to work full time for the police force. Like many college students, he changed his major several times. McNair entered college as a potential music major, but he could not picture himself being a music teacher. Then he tried out the business major; it was "nightmarish, and the most horrible experience ever," he said. He even remembers scribbling desperate notes to himself in class, like "this is completely insane," just to pass the time. During his first two years at Savannah State University, McNair was an average student at best. "I felt indifferent and uncertain about my classes and education," he said.

McNair realized that he needed to take time off to figure out what he wanted to do, so he went back to the glass factory for a year. He knew that the factory lifestyle was not for him and began to think of career paths. "I knew I didn't want a white-collar job, but I also knew that I didn't want a blue-collar job," he said. "So I thought, what about a light-blue-collar job?"

Soon after, McNair turned in an application to the local fire department. But as he was turning it in, he saw that the pay scale for police officers was much higher. He quickly replaced the words "fire department" with "police department," and a few weeks later, he was hired as a police officer. McNair explained, "After two years at the police academy, I got bored and wanted to go back to school to finish my education. Criminals really are not that smart," he said.

When McNair returned, school looked and felt different. He was older, wiser and, apparently, better-looking. "I couldn't get a date my first two years - I was totally inept," he said. "During my last two years, I became the cool kid, and all the girls saw me as different than all the other guys."

For McNair, life was good. He had become a serious student and a campus leader. He participated in academic clubs like the Model United Nations while balancing those commitments with his job as an officer. His police work made school seem like a type of oasis - every day from four to midnight he worked on the job, and every morning from eight to one he had classes. He became a political science major, with law school in mind for the future, and finally opted for a criminal justice major.

McNair said that his favorite year by far was senior year. "It's when all the pieces of my personality came together," he said.

When asked if he would have ever considered going to Kenyon as student, he responded by saying that he would not have been ready for such serious intellectual engagement coming into college. His actual words were, "No way in hell."

This article is the first in a series of articles about professors' college experiences.