Barbara Gordon
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In the mid 1980s, Barbara Gordon was looking for a new university at which to guide students and call home. Years before researching on the Internet was commonplace, she used a kind of catalog for colleges, with only a few sentence description for each institution. But one of those blurbs caught her eye. What stood out about Elon University’s description was its emphasis on teaching. “It was on the top of the list,” she said. “I felt this idealism about upholding values, and I had this feeling that this was an institution that cared about students and really wanted to develop students in value-laden ways.” As soon as she was hired, Gordon was asked to step into a leadership position, as Director of Writing. In her position as an English professor, Gordon combined her appreciation of Zen with writing to create a Winter Term course that changed her students’ outlooks on life. One student that took the class, Brian Keating, approached her after the class had finished, wanting to continue the practice of meditation with his classmates. “My heart soared,” Gordon said. “I was just delighted.” Gordon recognizes that there are many kinds of leaders, but the ones she puts at the forefront are those that are selfless. You can see true leaders, she said, when they put others before themselves. You can recognize a leader “when they will stand up for what’s right and what’s true even when it may cost them,” she said. Elon students who have had the chance to take one of Gordon’s classes might say that Gordon herself embodies those traits. “Barbara is one of the most genuine teachers I’ve had during my experience at Elon,” said senior Shannon Gillen. “She’s so willing to help each one of her students and always has a smile on her face.” Both Gillen and another senior, Anna Rucker, spent the fall 2009 semester studying Zen with Gordon during an upper-level general studies class. Rucker said the class and Gordon’s quiet, simple leadership changed the way she looked at life. “It wasn’t a hassle to attend Professor Gordon’s class,” she said. “It was a place to go, meditate and learn of methods of improvement. I always left class feeling like I had a clean slate.” A GUIDE ALONG THE PATH TO ENLIGHTENMENT 7 // e Legacies of Elon’s Leaders Story By Camille DeMere
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Story By Camille DeMere 7 // e Legacies of Elon’s Leaders GET TO KNOW Barbara Gordon Arrived at Elon in 1986 Hometown: Buffalo, NY “Things are not as they seem. Nor are they otherwise.” - Lankavatara Sutra e Legacies of Elon’s Leaders // 8 PHOTO BY JACK DODSON
Transcript of Barbara Gordon
In the mid 1980s, Barbara Gordon was looking for a new university at which to guide students and call home. Years before researching on the Internet was commonplace, she used a kind of catalog for colleges, with only a few sentence description for each institution. But one of those blurbs caught her eye.
What stood out about Elon University’s description was its emphasis on teaching.
“It was on the top of the list,” she said. “I felt this idealism about upholding values, and I had this feeling that this was an institution that cared about students and really wanted to develop students in value-laden ways.”
As soon as she was hired, Gordon was asked to step into a leadership position, as Director of Writing. In her position as an English professor, Gordon combined her appreciation of Zen with writing to create a Winter Term course that changed her students’ outlooks on life. One student that took the class, Brian Keating, approached her after the class had fi nished, wanting to continue the practice of meditation with his classmates.
“My heart soared,” Gordon said. “I was just delighted.”
Gordon recognizes that there are many kinds of leaders, but the ones she puts at the forefront are those that are selfl ess. You can see true leaders, she said, when they put others before themselves.
You can recognize a leader “when they will stand up for what’s right and what’s true even when it may cost them,” she said.
Elon students who have had the chance to take one of Gordon’s classes might say that Gordon herself embodies those traits.
“Barbara is one of the most genuine teachers I’ve had during my experience at Elon,” said senior Shannon Gillen. “She’s so willing to help each one of her students and always has a smile on her face.”
Both Gillen and another senior, Anna Rucker, spent the fall 2009 semester studying Zen with Gordon during an upper-level general studies class. Rucker said the class and Gordon’s quiet, simple leadership changed the way she looked at life.
“It wasn’t a hassle to attend Professor Gordon’s class,” she said. “It was a place to go, meditate and learn of methods of improvement. I always left class feeling like I had a clean slate.”
A GUIDE ALONG THE PATH TO ENLIGHTENMENT
7 // � e Legacies of Elon’s Leaders
Story By Camille DeMere
Barbara Gordon� e Legacies of Elon’s Leaders // 8
PH
OTO
BY
JAC
K D
OD
SO
N
Story By Camille DeMere
GET TO KNOWBarbara GordonArrived at Elon in 1986
Hometown: Buffalo, NY
“Things are not as they seem. Nor are they otherwise.” - Lankavatara Sutra
