Retirement bio of Susan Davis
I came to GRCC as an adjunct in the English Department in the Fall of 1986, newly-minted Master’s Degree in hand. The friends I made in the crowded adjunct office are still friends forty years later! It was during those first years that I knew GRCC was home: my colleagues shared assignments, guided me through the trials of first-year teaching, and gave me courage. The work was sustaining and meaningful. I served as an adjunct for sixteen years, and another twenty-five as a full-time professor. Full-time work presented endless possibilities for learning, both professionally and personally. I not only had the honor of teaching my students, but I also served as Department Head for five years. Opportunities to serve on the Negotiating Team, search committees, College and Department projects, conduct research projects, and represent my department’s voice in the College taught me leadership and humility. Outside of GRCC, I co-directed the Lake Michigan Writing Project for many years, teaching and learning each summer with cohorts of teachers of writing. My commitment to improving my pedagogy and reaching every student deepened, and alongside that commitment came my dedication to sustaining my own writing. The classroom and my students were always foremost in my daily work. My most meaningful memories inevitably involve students who stay in touch long after graduation: a former Brit Lit student who emailed sixteen years later to report he’d become an Air Force pilot and read Chaucer to his children; a writing major who had me for her very first college class after being home-schooled and subsequently took three more classes from me; the student who reached out after marriage and starting her family to tell me she had become a teacher: we know we reach our students, but we don’t always know how long we stay with them, and it’s affirming to hear from students who tell me I made a difference in their lives. Teaching is the only profession where we are so honored. This is also the only profession that offers a break for learning and reflection, and GRCC granted me a sabbatical to complete my second graduate degree and thesis. I earned my MFA in Creative non-Fiction at the age of 60, and it’s the single best thing I’ve ever done for myself – personally and professionally. As a teacher, I was in the trenches with my students, writing and revising. As a writer, I was experimenting and practicing my craft. It is the highlight of my time at GRCC. I will continue to participate in writing retreats with my colleagues – dear friends and fellow writers – which will sustain and feed and inspire me. In my retirement, I’ll also make dirt, garden, read, relax at the cottage, travel with my husband, and relish time and experiences with our growing grandchildren. The deep friendships that began in the English Department long ago have developed into regular gatherings to play Scrabble and Trivia; share meals and holidays; and enjoy the blessing of being present in one another’s everyday ordinary and extraordinary lives. GRCC gave me all that, and more. I will miss this place and its people more than I can say, and am forever grateful for the transformative years I spent here among you. Davis will be retiring at the end of April 2025. Thank you, Susan, for all that you’ve done at GRCC and for the lasting impact that you have made on your colleagues and students!