New Baylor retirees: Terry Roller (art)

Some members of the Baylor faculty will be retiring this spring or summer after long service to the University. In this series of blog posts, we asked each new retiree a few questions about their time at Baylor and what they intend to do once they step down from full-time teaching.

Terry Roller, a professor of art, joined the Baylor faculty in 1983. Roller earned a BFA in communication design from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in 1973 and an MFA in communication design from the same institution in 1977.

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1. What do you consider the hometown where you grew up?

Appalachia, Virginia, a small coal mining and railroad community near the Kentucky border — just over the mountain from Harlan.

2. What brought you to Baylor?

After receiving tenure at Eastern Illinois University, I looked around and asked myself if I wanted to stay there forever. The answer was a resounding, “No.”

3. What courses, or types of courses, have you concentrated on teaching at Baylor?

The entire graphic design curriculum, including illustration and on occasion even photography.

4. Can you characterize the students you’ve taught while at Baylor? Are there things about your students that especially stand out to you after all these years?

I take the fifth on this one. Almost. I will say that had we had a weed-out program, some of my most successful graduates would not have made the cut. Also, I am pleasantly surprised at the number of grads who get jobs in the field and remain in the field or in some related industry.

5. Have you enjoyed teaching at Baylor — and if so, why?

Being at Baylor has been a blessing. As frustrating as students can be at times, all I have to do is visit another institution and get a sense of the moral fiber and overall quality of our students.

6. Are there examples of research you’ve taken part in while at Baylor that you have had especially significant satisfaction with?

Not particularly — I have had the luxury to always be a teacher rather than a researcher.

7. Are there any of your Baylor colleagues you have had an especially productive relationship with — and why?

Not particularly, though I do tremendously respect and admire my colleagues. When people work as long hours as faculty do, there is hardly any time for collegiality outside the workplace.

8. When you look back on your time at Baylor, what about it will you remember most fondly?

I have been blessed to be here. I have worked with fantastic, talented people and enjoyed getting to know the students I have had.

9. What are your plans for retirement?

I will go to work, at least part-time for one of my design clients as a creative director and liaison to their advertising agency in Houston. I will also solicit more freelance work, write more songs, and above all, my hope is to have the opportunity to perform more as a vocalist.

10. Is there anything else about your time at Baylor or your career that you’d like to add?

There is an old saying in marriage that one is married above their league. I feel that has been the case for me. I am proud of what I have accomplished in my 32 years here. I do suffer from the imposter syndrome.

One Response

  1. Colleen Leahy Peterlich at |

    Took your Visual Communications class at EIU in 1979 and it changed my college path. Still live in Charleston IL and work at EIU currently. Thank you for making me love what I did!

    Reply

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