Today’s Project 100 memory comes from David Tarr who graduated from Glassboro State College in 1965.  As he notes, David grew up impoverished in Atlantic City.  Glassboro State was for him, and many others of a similar background, a place that changed the direction of their lives.  The availability of faculty to mentor students outside of the classroom was critical in this regard. In the memory below, David discusses the impact of such experiences on his life.   After graduating from Glassboro State, David Tarr went on to a career in economics and became one of the College’s most famous and successful alumni.  He earned an MA in economics from Ohio University and then earned his doctorate in economics from Brown University.  He has worked in 30 countries providing advice to governments on a wide range of international trade policy issues. He played an important role in the assistance of the World Bank to former communist countries who were attempting to transition to market economies. He is the author of more than 75 refereed journal articles and has written or edited 14 books or monographs, including a two-volumes of his collected works that are selections of his papers.  Dr. Tarr is one of the leading experts in policy analysis using computable modeling of economies--in 2003, he was named a Global Trade Analysis Project research fellow “for his role in advancing economy-wide analysis of trade policies in developing countries.” He has taught at Ohio State University and the New Economics School in Moscow, Russia. He was a Senior Economist at the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.  In 1988, he joined the World Bank where he served as Lead Economist from 1996 to 2005.  Since then, he has worked as an international consultant with a special interest in international trade policies for growth, poverty reduction and how to employ these policies to save the planet.  His clients include the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, Asian Development Bank, Eurasian Economic Commission, USAID, and the Norwegian Institute of International Relations.  He serves as an advisor to the International School of Economics in Tbilisi, Georgia. In 1998, he received the “Alumnus of the Year” award from Rowan University.  On October 19, 2023, he will give a talk at Rowan University entitled “How to Save the Planet.” 

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Glassboro was transformative for me in so many ways. While in high school, I worked in meat markets on Saturdays and after school on weekdays. I found this unpleasant work that had been what the males in my father’s family had done for generations. I saw college as the key to escaping this fate, but my sister had been dismissed from college when she could not pay her tuition bills. I applied only to schools where I thought I could work my way through college.  With a total cost of attending Glassboro State College at the time of $1,000 per year, and a state scholarship in hand for students with financial need that covered the $150 per year tuition, I enrolled in Glassboro State College in the Fall of 1961.

I entered Glassboro as a poor kid with materialistic values. This unfortunate combination led to a lack of self-confidence. Amazingly quickly, during my first semester of college, I no longer valued people by their money, and this led to a dramatic increase in my self-confidence. I was taking philosophy, sociology and psychology classes at the time, but simply being in the intellectual atmosphere of the campus likely was just as important.

I never played tennis before attending Glassboro, but I made the varsity tennis team as a sophomore and played number one and was first-team all-conference as a senior. Tennis became my lifetime sport.

I remember the willingness, even enthusiasm, of professors to spend additional time outside of class hours with us when we approached them for additional discussion. Beyond the intellectual benefits of these discussions, they had the effect of increasing our confidence and raising our life goals. Notable professors in my experience were Anne Edwards in sociology, Francis Peacock in economics, Maurice Blanken in political science, Jesse Kennedy who organized the Vietnam “teach-in,” Nate Carb and Daniel McConnel in literature and writing, Richard Wacker as my coach on the basketball and cross-country teams, and especially Ed Wolfe in literature.

I never had a course with Ed Wolfe, but he had a profound effect on my life.  Ron Weisberger, my roommate and best friend, frequently approached professors after class.  I would join him for these discussions.  After class with McConnel we typically migrated to his office for post-class discussions. McConnel shared an office with Ed Wolfe, who joined in and discussed economic systems. Despite the fact that neither Ron nor I ever took a class with Ed Wolfe, Ron and I had hours of discussions with him. These discussions convinced me of the importance of economics and gave me an enormous desire to become a professional economist. As a result, as a sophomore, I knew what I wanted to do in life. I am extremely grateful to Ed Wolfe for leading me on a path in which I have obtained enormous satisfaction. 

The Vietnam war caused me and many in this country to seriously question our government’s foreign policy for the first time. My own views were profoundly influenced by Glassboro State’s Social Science faculty. In 1965 the first components of the national anti-Vietnam war movement emerged with the “teach-in” on some campuses.  Glassboro State was in the vanguard of this movement, and our Social Science faculty organized and ran a “teach-in” that Spring.  In Dr. Jesse Kennedy’s class on East-Asian history, those of us who were social science majors had already discussed the Vietnam war in the context of the sphere of influence political theory. That theory posits that a country should not go to war in a country that is not in its “sphere of influence” where it otherwise does not have a vital interest. The combined impact of Dr. Kennedy’s class and the teach-in had a profound impact on my views and the decisions I made during my years of eligibility for the draft.

I remember Ron and I sitting on the steps of Bunce Hall on our final day on campus following graduation. We were both headed for graduate school and were eager to pursue specialized education that would shape our careers. We knew it was the time in our lives to move on. Nonetheless, we nostalgically discussed what a fantastic place Glassboro had been for us and the sadness we shared in having to leave. Ron literally hugged onto one of the pillars on the steps in the symbolic gesture of refusing to leave. 

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This is part of the Department of History’s “Project 100,” the collection and sharing of one hundred memories by Glassboro State College and Rowan University alumni and staff.  One memory will be released per day in the 100 days leading up to October 20, 2023, the date of a reunion celebrating the 100^th anniversary of the founding of Glassboro Normal School, later Glassboro State College, and now Rowan University.  The reunion will take place at 7pm at the Summit City Farm and Winery in Glassboro, New Jersey.  Registration for the reunion will be open from July 11^th and will remain open until the venue reaches its 100-person capacity (or October 13^th if capacity never reached).  We do anticipate that the reunion will sell out, so please register as soon as possible by visiting the Alumni Office’s registration page here:  alumni.rowan.edu/historyreunion2023.

You can also find the up-to-date set of Project 100 memories on the Department of History’s webpage.  William Carrigan arranged, interviewed, transcribed and/or edited these memories.  Laurie Lahey proofread and helped edit the final versions.  If you wish to share your own memories, please email Dr. Carrigan at carrigan@rowan.edu.  Alumni with Facebook accounts are encouraged to join the RU/GSC History Alumni group here:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/251485937221524.