Mary Fazzaro Sullivan

Mary Fazzaro Sullivan

“I Didn’t Want to Let Them Down”: Mary Sullivan (‘91) Remembers Working Hard at Glassboro State -- Memory #41 of 100  

 

Today’s Project 100 memory comes from Mary Sullivan.  She was born in Oswego, New York.  We moved all over New York state because my father worked with the federal government.  He was a government contract inspector.  He was involved with inspecting General Electric’s contracts related to the various Apollo missions.  She was the oldest of eight children, and her mother was a homemaker who took care of all those children.  She went to public and Catholic schools when younger, but she graduated in 1969 from Johnson City High School in Johnson City, New York.  After graduating, she became a nurse’s aide for five years.  She moved to Millville, New Jersey, and began attending Cumberland County College in Vineland, New Jersey.  She transferred to Glassboro State in the Fall of 1989.  In 1991, she graduated from GSC having won the Medallion as the most outstanding history graduate that year.  That Fall, Vineland High School hired her as a special education teacher (teaching history in the summers.  She worked there until 1999 when she moved to Oswego where she got a job teaching special education at Oswego High School.  New York did not accept her New Jersey certification, so, in 2001, she went back to college part-time while teaching.  She earned that certification plus a Master’s degree in history from that in State University of New York at Oswego.  She retired in 2017.  Since then, she has helped out with her husband’s tailoring business.  The business arose out of his passion for Civil War reenacting, which he has done since the 1970s.  He makes clothing, primarily trousers, for Civil War reenactors and for historic films.  He made the pants for the Brooklyn regiment in the movie, Gettysburg. 

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I chose to go to Glassboro State because I had gone to Cumberland County College, and it was the natural place to transfer.  I was not a traditional student.  I was older than most of my peers.  I had three children so I had to build my schedule around their lives. 

I always wanted to be a teacher, but life got in the way for a long time.  Still, when my life allowed it, it was an easy choice to major in history and secondary education because I had also always loved history. In particular, I loved rooting for the underdog.  I had great joy teaching about African American history and convincing my mostly African American students that I had something to teach them.

I enjoyed all of the history professors that I had, but my favorite was Dr. Taney.  I took two classes with her.  She was a motherly figure and had a wonderful, welcoming personality.  She was the advisor for Phi Alpha Theta, and I became the President of Phi Alpha Theta for the 1989-1990 academic year.  I remember bringing cookies to meetings to try to drum up attendance.  I also remember that we created and ordered Phi Alpha Theta t-shirts.  During the Spring of 1990, Dr. Taney approached me about my seminar paper on the history of Millville Airfield.  I was writing this paper for Professor Herbert Richardson.  She wanted me to present that paper at the Phi Alpha Theta regional conference at Seton Hall University.  I would do anything for her, as I really loved the woman.  So, I rode up to the conference with her and her husband.  She told me that I was, to her knowledge, the first presenter at this conference.  My presentation went well, and Dr. Taney complemented me on it.  She was very excited that I agreed to present, as other students had not been willing to do it.  I remember her giving me my diploma at graduation, which was a special moment for me.

Another professor that I remember was Richard Porterfield who taught Historiography. The course was on Friday morning, and he told us that he scheduled it at that time because he believed that only serious students would sign up for the class at that time.  That gives you some sense of his humor.  One of my other professors was Robert Harper, and I took his class on Colonial North America.  I remember him giving me an A- for my paper on the history of New Sweden.  He said that the reason I did not get an A was because I did not cite his book in my notes.  He was a character.  Gary Hunter was cool.  He was someone that you could always approach.

I was apprehensive when I first began attending Glassboro State.  However, the professors really cared about you, and they made my commute all worth it.  Because I really liked those professors, it made me want to do well in their classes and helped me find the time for all of the work even though I was so busy with my family responsibilities.  I didn’t want to let them down.

My path was not easy, but the professors made me feel so good about myself and my accomplishments.

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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 100th anniversary of the founding of Glassboro Normal School, later Glassboro State College, and now Rowan University.