The first day of school can get the nerves going for anyone during a normal semester, especially professors. However, when it’s the first day at a new school and the first day of a semester under the COVID umbrella that has shadowed the United States simultaneously, the nerves get even more restless. That hasn’t dampened the excitement of Myles Calvert and Gabrielle Tull, however, as they join Winthrop University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts this semester.
Myles Calvert, a new fine arts professor, received a B.A. in fine arts and art history from the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada and an M.A. in printmaking from Camberwell College of Arts, a constituent college of the University of the Arts London in the U.K. He also received a teaching certification from the University of Brighton.
For the last four years, Calvert has been teaching at Alfred University in New York. “I was hired on there for a one year visiting assistant professor position, which was fantastic,” Calvert said, “and then they just kept finding more work for me and rolling over the contracts…” While there, he also started teaching part-time at Elfriede State College of Technology and has previously taught at Ontario College of Art and Design University, his alma mater, the University of Guelph, and Hastings College in the United Kingdom.
“I think anyone who’s offered a full-time job and a good job during a pandemic is going to say yes. I think I’m very fortunate to be offered a position during the kickoff of all the chaos that began,” Calvert said about coming to Winthrop. “It’s also a great opportunity for me to be working with the faculty who I know of and a department chair who is also a printmaker. And it’s a chance for me to work within print and within foundations, which are the two areas in fine art…I’m really interested in. And this was a very specific job for foundations and printmaking…a very logical fit for me.”
While Calvert has only been here a little under a month, he is already enjoying Winthrop. “Everyone who I’ve met so far has been incredibly generous with their time,” he said. “They’ve been accommodating and…helpful, friendly, all of the things that you’d like in a new job and you don’t always get…even during a pandemic entering a new job, it’s been surprising how vocal and supportive people have been.”
While Calvert has already grown to trust the CVPA, he is concerned about “how students and the general population will manage the seriousness of what COVID-19 is.” Despite this, he is confident that the students from the classes he has had thus far in the semester will be “very professional about it.”
Calvert’s main aspiration while he is at Winthrop is to “take printmaking and all the traditional processes…and to infuse them with technology.” Other universities in the world have already begun this integration and Calvert wants to help Winthrop join them.
Calvert also said, “[Winthrop has] great facilities here on campus, but we can do more with them. What I’ve been doing is taking layout, changing course descriptions to incorporate newer software and technology and then putting in bids for some higher priced items for down the road…I’d like to put Winthrop on the map for printmaking.”
Calvert is not the only new face in the CVPA, though. Gabrielle Tull, a new dance professor, brings with her a B.A. in dance with K-12 licensure, a minor in Spanish, and an M.A. in education in divergent learning and practices from Columbia College in South Carolina. She also recently completed a M.F.A. in dance choreography from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
While completing her M.F.A., Tull also taught ballet, contemporary, and jazz at Greensboro through their “in–residence program where you’re getting the degree and they also allow you to teach those classes.” Prior to that, Tull was a high school performing arts dance director in Columbia, South Carolina.
Tull chose Winthrop because she “knew that they had a really strong dance program and specifically dance education program because I’m…transferring over to their dance ed supervisor position and I knew from experience working with previous dance ed alum at Winthrop, that I want to continue that program of excellence.”
So far, Tull has said that her time at Winthrop has been interesting. “I’m in the dance studio by myself up until now and there’s a lot of technology going on…there’s the computer desktop… your Apple Watch so you can coordinate music and…a wireless mic set.” She also said, “I think this is probably the most I’ve ever had to concentrate on a student because you’re trying to see each individual person to give them feedback…It takes a lot of work and a lot of effort to make sure that the students are getting what they need.”
When Tull initially agreed to teach at Winthrop, she admitted that she was concerned about the mandatory furloughs. “You’ve got that announcement from the president the first day of class that every faculty and staff…have to take mandatory furlough days. That was a little disheartening at first, but I think the students are positive enough and they are really working hard in these classes…focusing on that and leaving all of the extra political things out the door, so to speak, has been interesting.”
Tull plans to “develop and continue to grow the dance ed program to where we have more students in our MAT programs…which means salary wise, they’re able to already start at a higher salary once they find a school that works for them and fits for them…they’re getting a lot more content and knowledge that they wouldn’t get from the four years.”
She also wants to “make sure the students have a way to connect outside of Winthrop. So, creating more professional opportunities for them beyond.”
Myles Calvert and Gabrielle Tull are officially a part of the Winthrop family and are traveling this bumpy road through COVID-19 with the rest of the University.
Photo courtesy Myles Calvert
