Today’s Project 100 memory comes from Marlon Hollis.  He was born at Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho.  His father was in Air Force as an engine mechanic.  His mother worked in the daycare on the Air Force base.  He has a younger sister.  As a result of the Air Force, they moved around quite a bit, living in Germany for three years, then in Michigan for over a decade.  In 1986, he graduated from Oscoda Area High School in Oscoda, Michigan.  He attended Michigan State for one year, but the costs of the education proved too much.  So, he enlisted in the Air Force like his father, serving until 1991.  During this time, his parents relocated to New Jersey.  His father left the Air Force and took a job for Airwork where he repaired engines.  His mother eventually took a job teaching in the Millville public school system.  After leaving the Air Force, he joined the New Jersey Air National Guard, which paid for him to attend college.  He began at Rowan in 1997, and he graduated in the Spring of 2001.  After graduating from Rowan, he earned a law degree from Rutgers University.  He didn’t love the field of law, however, and he now works in the construction industry as a “specifier,” meaning that he works with architects to create building specifications that will instruct the contractors on how to proceed with their work while meeting the required legal standards.

The two colleges that made the most sense for me to attend were Rowan and Richard Stockton. I chose Rowan because it reminded me more of Michigan State.  My favorite two subjects in high school were history and computer science.  I had a great teacher in high school who instilled a love for history, but I loved coding as well.  At Michigan State, I began as a computer science major, but the courses weren’t really about coding but about math.  So, I switched over to history. When I restarted college at Rowan, I continued with history. 

I loved the upper-level history courses at Rowan.  I much enjoyed the discussions that took place in these classes, as well as the research and the writing of papers.  I thought I might even become a college professor, but I gave up on that idea eventually.  Still, I gained numerous skills that later proved helpful to me in my current career.  I think that history taught me to think critically, to evaluate subjects from multiple angles, and this has been invaluable to me.

In my non-history classes, I often sat back in my classes and didn’t volunteer to contribute, but I found myself wanting to join in during the discussions in all my history classes.  Several faculty members had a memorable impact on me.  One was Edward Wang who helped me understand Asian culture and history. It was new information and a whole different way of thinking.  The same could be said of Corinne Blake who taught me Middle Eastern history.  William Carrigan was an important mentor and advisor to me, and his classes were also engaging, especially if you did the reading!  Another faculty member who was very energetic and engaging was Lee Kress.  All these years later, I remember one class where he read part of Lincoln’s speech in an accent that he thought would be closer to reality than the voice actors who often read Lincoln’s work in documentary films.  It is strange what sticks in one’s memory. 

I had a great time at Rowan, and it holds a special place for me in my long history of higher education.  After graduating and before going to law school, I actually worked for a brief period in the Archives with MaryAnn Curtis Gonzalez.  I really enjoyed working with the documents in the Stewart Room.  I have returned numerous times to campus, dropping by the Department to show my family where I studied, and also attending Homecoming most years.

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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 in celebration of the 100^th anniversary of the founding of Glassboro Normal School, later Glassboro State College, and now Rowan University.  Thanks to Laurie Lahey for helping proofread and edit the final versions.  Email carrigan@rowan.edu with questions or corrections.  You can find the Link to all of the Project 100 entries on the Web:  https://chss.rowan.edu/departments/history/alumni_highlights/project_100/