By Andrew Spaan ’25, staff writer
Dr. Gary Grieve-Carlson is an LVC English professor who is in his 33rd and final year teaching at LVC. His passion for teaching has been felt by all who have had him in class for more than three decades.
Grieve-Carlson grew up in Bristol, Connecticut, and attended Bates College when he was 18 years old. There, he surprisingly did not major in English; instead, he chose psychology. However, upon his graduation from college, he did not know what he wanted to do with his degree.
“I graduated and I didn’t have a plan; I didn’t have any idea,” Grieve-Carlson said. “I did a cross-country trip with a buddy who graduated from another school at that time, and we went out to California and back. I ended up back at my parents’ house with $30 in my pocket, and I had no job.”
He had worked at a mental health institution in the Catskill Mountains in New York after his junior year in college. Not knowing what to do, he returned there for a year after his graduation from Bates but eventually his plans would shift again. He decided that teaching writing at a community college would be a fun job which prompted him to complete a master’s program in English at Binghamton University. However, the job market was not favorable for aspiring professors.
“At that point, there were no jobs, and the market was just awful. So, I just applied for a bunch of teaching jobs at community colleges and places, but I also applied to Ph.D. programs, and I got into Boston University and what they were going to pay me to be a Ph.D. student was going to be more than what I would make at a community college, so I thought, ‘what the heck let’s just do that.’”
Grieve-Carlson would live in Boston for the next five years. The Ph.D. program at Boston University was a ton of work, but he enjoyed being around like-minded people who enjoyed literature and writing. He didn’t have to pay tuition, and the college gave him money for food and a small apartment. School essentially became his job, which he found enjoyable.
“So, it’s like you’re living in poverty, but you’re not starving. You have a roof over your head, and you are getting paid to read books and write papers with other people who like to do that too.”
Grieve-Carlson also shared some fond memories of his time in Boston. For starters, he married his wife while living in Boston. He also recalled seeing multiple famous athletes and bands play in the Boston Garden like Larry Bird, Patrick Ewing and the Grateful Dead.
After that, Grieve-Carlson would teach for two years at Virginia Tech while still working on his dissertation. The completion of the Ph.D. was a requirement for him to get the Fulbright Scholarship and he was given only three months to complete it. Fulbright scholarships are prestigious scholarships given out to members of college faculty so that they can study and teach abroad.
“I had to get it done. I got the letter from Fulbright in March telling me, I had three months to finish this thing. That’s the hardest I’ve ever worked by far. But I did get it done; I passed the exams and went off to Germany.”
In Germany, Grieve-Carlson lectured at Technische Universitat Braunschweig from the years 1987-1988. While he was there, he taught three classes per semester on topics pertaining to American literature and American poetry.
After his time in Germany, Grieve-Carlson took a job at the University of Tennessee. However, his time there would only last for two years, and eventually, he would search for a tenured professorship job. His two options were Eastern Illinois University and Lebanon Valley College, and in 1990, he took the job at LVC.
Over Dr. Grieve-Carlson’s 33-year tenure at LVC, he has occupied many positions. Some of these include the acting dean (briefly for one year), director of general education for ten years and the director of colloquium. However, over these past 33 years, his true passion has always been teaching.
“It’s the best way of making a living that I can think of because I like reading books and I like talking to smart, young people,” he said. “I like the idea of being on a college campus. I like the idea of working for a place that doesn’t exist with the intention of making money since this is a nonprofit institution. Obviously, the goal is to educate young people, but the ancillary goal is just to be a place where more people can spend their time trying to create knowledge, trying to figure things out and ask difficult questions.”
When asked about what his favorite memory from working at LVC was, he was not able to give a specific answer, but instead, he said this: “In 32 years, there has never been a day where I got out of my car to walk to the humanities building and said to myself ‘Man, I do not feel like going to work today.’ That has never happened in 32 years, and I think that is pretty rare to say about any job.”
In retirement, Grieve-Carlson plans to take a three-week trip with his wife up to New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island in July. Otherwise, he said he will be on campus often next year, most likely in the library reading books and creating knowledge.