This one's for you Glavin

I am straying from the norm with this week's post. On Monday, I received some sad news from one of my mentors at Syracuse University. A dear professor of mine was just diagnosed with late stage lung cancer. I want to dedicate this post to Professor Bill Glavin and let him know that we are all thinking of him during this difficult time.

Syracuse is a relatively big school with lecture classes of upwards of 100 students at a time. I never imagined making bonds with my professors as I had in high school. When I finally started taking classes at Newhouse, I realized how intimidating of a school it was. There, everyone was editor of their high school yearbook and scored a near perfect score on their SAT's. Well, not me. I was one of those transfer students who was never quite smart enough to be accepted right out of high school.

Then I took critical writing with Glavin. I distinctly remember thinking, "how hard can it be to write a review?" Then, he put my first assignment on the projector for all to see. I remember sinking into my seat with my head down trying hard not to make it known that it was my debacle on the screen.

Aside from showing me how much I could improve my writing, he re-invigorated my love for the craft. I wanted to go to Newhouse because since I was 12, I wanted to write. When I was there, writing turned into work for me and I slowly lost that passion. Thanks to people like Glavin and Melissa Chessher, I am back to writing and loving every word of it. They showed me that writing doesn't have to be about perfect grammer and you don't have to publish a 2,000-word essay in the New Yorker to be a success. I thank them for inspiring me to pull together this little ditty I call a blog. It may be wrought with the verb to be and I never do a full spell check but that's what my day job is for...copywriting go figure!

To Professor Glavin - your experience and knowledge within the communications industry is vast but it was the heart you poured into your teaching that made the world of difference. To all the students, professionals, and colleagues you touched with your spirit, we will keep you in our thoughts, prayers, and most importantly our hearts.

The outpour of support for Glavin is beyond belief. Please read the comments on his fan page. We can all only hope to inspire others as he has: http://glavin.syr.edu.