|
|
Dr. Jeff Wilson
Music Department Chair, Professor of Music
jeff.wilson@greenville.edu What's your favorite thing about working at Greenville College?I love the various music-making, teaching and mentoring opportunities that I have with students from nearly every discipline at GC. I work with three choirs on a regular basis, and enjoy learning, teaching and performing in a variety of choral and instrumental musical styles both on and off campus. Our College Choir and Chamber Singers tour each year, both inside the US and overseas. I also teach voice, conducting, choral techniques and worship arts classes. These interactions with students (oftentimes from their freshmen through their senior years) allow me to assist them develop as young men and women of faith during a critical time in their lives. Watching them graduate from GC and go on to graduate schools, careers and oftentimes unique ministries around the world never ceases to amaze me. I regard working at Greenville College as a high calling and a unique privilege. What attracted you to the Music Department, and how do you use it outside of the classroom?My music instructors asked me to accompany choirs at both church and school, and at age 13 I became the church organist and adult choir accompanist. I also played sports throughout my high school years, but when I attended college I decided to try music as a major. After experimenting with several areas of study (i.e. organ, voice, piano, composition and accompanying) I eventually discovered that I particularly enjoyed conducting choirs since it allowed me to pursue my diverse musical interests while working with groups of people.
|
|
|
Dr. Larry Sayler
Professor of Management, Department Chair of Management
larry.sayler@greenville.edu What's your favorite thing about working at Greenville College?I like Greenville College students and I like my colleagues. Most Greenville College students strive to learn the material presented in the classroom and want to improve themselves through both academic and extra-curricular activities. They want their lives to be meaningful. Further, my colleagues both within the Management Department and throughout the College are high quality people. They frequently have significant non-academic experience which enhances their classroom teaching. Most importantly, they are earnest about their faith. What attracted you to the Management/Business, and how do you use it outside of the classroom?I spent about 20 years "doing" business and accounting before starting full time teaching, much of those early years with General Electric. I love this field. In the United States business and free-enterprise are the engines that propel our economic growth. Business provides the goods and services people want and need. And business frequently provides the opportunity for people to improve themselves financially. I continue to find management principles useful with my work for a variety of organizations - Member of the Administrative Board of my local church, Board member of Bond County Habitat for Humanity, Board member for Christian Business Faculty Association, among others. |
Mr. Travis Briles
Studio Manager
travis.briles@greenville.edu |
|
|
|
Mr. Jorge Casas
Artist in Residence, Assistant Professor of Music
jorge.casas@greenville.edu What's your favorite thing about working at Greenville College?My favorite aspect of my job here at Greenville College is working with young musicians and witnessing their progress as a result. I am very grateful and thank God for his blessings in this once in a lifetime opportunity to be able to pass on to young music students all that I have learned (and still learn!) in all my years in the music business. My title is 'Artist in Residence' which allows me to go on tour when necessary and work in the music business outside of the college. This helps to bring validity to the Music Department and to myself as a music professor. This also helps me to bring 'real-life' situations in all aspects of music to the classroom which is very beneficial to the young musician expecting to be prepared after he or she graduates. What attracted you to the Music Department, and how do you use it outside of the classroom?I graduated from the University of Miami with a Bachelor's in music. Over twenty-four years of acting as Musical Director, bass player and leading The Miami Sound Machine for Gloria Estefan has brought me much success and recognition in the music business.
|
|
|
Mr. Gary Erickson
Assistant Professor of Music
gary.erickson@greenville.edu What's your favorite thing about working at Greenville College?I feel that I am more of a "players coach" where we work together to achieve goals together. I don't sit back and simply lecture; I roll my sleeves up and get right in there with you working together. One of my favorite parts is seeing how students grow, mature and change so much from their freshmen year to seniors. Having an opportunity to have a hand in that growth and transformation is very rewarding. Earning a degree is not the end means of the college experience, it is merely a marker along the way in the process of your life long journey and it is my pleasure to help along the way. What attracted you to the Music Department, and how do you use it outside of the classroom?I had been playing cello and piano since I was in grade school and started singing in high school. Music and computers were a passion of mine growing up. I have since earned a number of degrees in various areas and have had jobs where I have been able to combine all the various interests into a single job. At first, music and computers were a passion... now I teach music using some of the most advanced music technology available! I still sing, play piano, play cello, lead worship services and create original compositions as my time allows. Having a connection to the performing arts and being able to play and sing songs in a manner to help others is still very important to me. |
|
|
Will Fairbanks
Director of Band Programs
will.fairbanks@greenville.edu What's your favorite thing about working at Greenville College?My favorite aspect of this job is taking a group of individuals and bringing them together to accomplish a goal and create a performance, whether on the field in a marching band show or in a parade or in the stands or on the stage. I help students learn to breathe life into a two dimensional page of lines and dots and recreating what the composers intended with their music. Music is created in the soul then written on lifeless paper. When students can breathe into that lifeless paper giving it its soul back, if you will, then they will experience the connection with that composer. Watching and being a part of a group that learns how to make those connections, expresses themselves through music and takes ownership in that process, that is what makes this an exciting job. What attracted you to the Music Department, and how do you use it outside of the classroom?I have enjoyed music for as long as I can remember, from singing to playing recorder and snare drum to ukulele and trumpet. I participated in various groups in junior and senior high school as well as in college. I started a Christian acting and performing group at the Wesley Foundation on campus and directed a college handbell group while in college. I have always enjoyed performing but when I took my first conducting class, well, that was it! I knew what I wanted to do - conduct bands: marching bands, symphonic bands, swing and jazz bands.
|
|
|
Dr. Tom Stampfli
Associate Professor of Music
tom.stampfli@greenville.edu What's your favorite thing about working at Greenville College?Greenville College offers me the opportunity to mentor my students spiritually as well as professionally, an opportunity that is usually unavailable at secular colleges and universities. This gives me an opportunity to work with students who seek to further the mission of God's kingdom as well as their own music careers. From my experience, most students attending Greenville College possess a stronger spiritual and moral compass than students from similar secular institutions. This affords me the opportunities to further God's kingdom side-by-side with students of like mind as we seek to worship our Creator.
What attracted you to the Music Department, and how do you use it outside of the classroom?I performed throughout my childhood in the many contests and recital opportunities available to me in the San Francisco Bay Area. When I decided to attend college, it was a natural decision to become a music performance major and pursue becoming a college professor where I could not only enjoy performing, but teach others the joys of music.
|
|
|
Mr. Paul Sunderland
Instructor of Music
paul.sunderland@greenville.edu |
|
|
Louise Weiss
Associate Professor of Music
louise.weiss@greenville.edu What's your favorite thing about working at Greenville College?I love working with theory students, but my passion is watching my music education students progress through 4 years of training and then go out to influence music students in the public schools. What attracted you to the Music Department, and how do you use it outside of the classroom?After graduating from SIUE in 1979 with a bachelor of music education degree, I taught band and choir for 2 years in Greenfield Illinois. I moved to the Greenville area in 1981 to teach music in the Mulberry Grove school district and began adjunct teaching at Greenville College in 1984. |
|
|
Dr. Chris Woods
Associate Professor of Music
chris.woods@greenville.edu What's your favorite thing about working at Greenville College?There is nothing more satisfying than the "Ah-ha!" moment of teaching. Whether it's the result of a lecture or tutoring or a casual conversation, when a connection and understanding blossoms, it makes my day! What attracted you to the Music Department, and how do you use it outside of the classroom?I was raised in a musical family - everybody played some kind of instrument. A performance degree in college seemed to be my "stepping stone" to a playing career in an orchestra. While in college I discovered other aspects of music beyond playing the bass trombone. Music theory interested me more and more as did the application of theory to arranging and composing.
|
|
|
John R. Chism
Professor of Management
jack.chism@greenville.edu I have taught at GC longer than any of the faculty in the department, 27 years! I bring a wide background, from the past and the present. After growing up on a farm in west central Illinois, I attended Greenville College where I met my wife Susan. We now have four children and thirteen grandchildren. After college, I taught in Wisconsin public schools and served as an officer in the US Air Force. I then started an agency for Northwestern Mutual Life, selling, recruiting, and training for eight years. In 1983 I accepted an invitation to serve at Greenville College, as an instructor, fund raiser, member of many committees, and as department chair for 10 years. I have taught a wide variety of business courses, but I most enjoy economics. I completed all of my graduate education while pursuing a full-time career. At first I commuted to the University of Illinois for his MBA while in the insurance business; then to SIU-Edwardsville for his Masters in Economics while teaching at Greenville College. I help my students think like economists: Never waste your resources; but channel them toward their most valuable uses. Exercise sound stewardship. Increase wealth for your family, your community, and the world. Maximize your productive service to your client. Respect your fellow human's property rights. Trust the marketplace. Accept full responsibility for your results, good or bad. Consider secondary consequences and opportunity costs. Create, as one who was made in our Creator's likeness. I constantly seek experiences that will enrich my teaching and thinking. My consulting and exploring has taken me to Ukraine, Rwanda, and the Philippines, where I advised a charitable organization on setting up a micro-finance service. I volunteer for a number of community activities, including City Planning Commission, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Relay for Life, and the Hospital Auxiliary Annual Book Fair. In addition I serve on the boards of several charitable foundations. I also operate a successful online retail business, started in 2004. In a turning point experience, I survived leukemia (AML) in 2002. This changed my attitude toward aging, good health, death, and living a productive and loving life. Also it channeled some of my side interests toward helping organizations that work to overcome cancer and to comfort its victims. |
|
|
Suzanne Davis
Assistant Professor, In-House Legal Counsel, Assistant Volleyball Coach
suzanne.davis@greenville.edu |
