Today’s Project 100 memory comes from Nick Weeks.  He was raised in Philadelphia and went to a Catholic school through 8^th grade.  For high school, he moved to New Jersey and graduated from Cherokee High School in 2000.  His father was a postal carrier, and his mother worked from home, doing medical transcription.    In high school, Nick did not excel in academics and was more interested in athletics, especially basketball.  He went to Burlington County College (BCC) and played basketball for the college team there, but, more importantly, BCC is where he hit his academic stride.  The instructor that made the greatest impact on him at BCC was named Ronald Covil.  Professor Covil taught United States and African American history. Professor Covil was a great lecturer and very demanding on his students.  Nick transferred to Rowan in the Fall of 2002.  Upon graduating in the Spring of 2004, Nick attended William Paterson University and earned a Master’s in history in 2006.  Upon graduation, Nick took a full-time job at a law firm performing risk and compliance related work while he applied to various adjunct positions throughout the area.  He was eventually hired by Gloucester County College, now known as Rowan College of South Jersey, where he has taught since 2008.  Professionally, Nick switched firms, gaining great experience, and he is now working at his third law firm, Ballard Spahr LLP, where he is the firm’s Chief Risk Management Officer.  Even as his career in the legal world developed, he never stopped teaching college history classes.  In the Spring of 2023, he is teaching at Rowan College of South Jersey, the University of Phoenix, and Louisiana State University at Alexandria where he teaches classes on colonial and post-Civil War American history, ancient and modern European history, and the Middle East.  Separate from history, Nick is also a frequent speaker on topics of cyber security and risk management, and has guest lectured several times at the University of Pennsylvania law school.  Nick is also on the Board of the Monroe Township Youth Basketball organization, and coaches several basketball and soccer teams.  How he does all of this, while raising his four children with his wife, is a mystery to the editor. 

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Rowan was close to me, and I chose it over the other local option, Rutgers Camden, because I was impressed with the history program.  I consider my selection of Rowan University to be among the most important decisions in my life.  Personally, it’s where I met my wife, Marikate Weeks.  Professionally, it’s where I developed the academic skills and “soft skills” that I carry on with me throughout my teaching and professional pursuits.  Looking back on my time at Rowan, five things stand out to me. 

The first is my relationship with Dr. Melissa Klapper.  I am not sure anyone would have been able to predict the strength of our relationship at the outset nor the lasting impact she would have on my skillset.  I was attracted to her classes because she had a reputation for being challenging, like Ronald Covil, and for her strong emphasis on both the study of history and on writing style.  I ended up taking Dr. Klapper for Historical Methods and two other classes.  I can confidently say that Dr. Klapper had the biggest influence on my writing, research, and analytical skills.  I would use her feedback as a measuring stick of my growth and abilities, and she encouraged me to produce some of my finest work as a student.  Everything that I do today is based on the writing and thinking skills that I learned from Dr. Klapper.  She made a lasting impact on my life and I am forever grateful.   

A second experience that greatly impacted me was interning in the Stewart Room with MaryAnn Curtis Gonzales.  I worked on projects that involved handling and encapsulating fragile and old historical documents.  At the time, it seemed unlikely that these skills would ever come in handy in the future.  However, I later used that knowledge profitably when I was at William Paterson working on a federally funded grant to digitize fragile and old historical documents.

The third memory that I have is playing basketball with Drs. Carrigan and Heinzen.  It was nice to have a relationship with faculty members outside of the classroom.  I think it strengthened our relationship, and it is one of the reasons I have kept in contact with the Department long after graduating. 

My fourth memory, in 2004, I participated in the Phi Alpha Theta regional conference at Kutztown University.  I presented a paper, based on the work I did in Dr. Lee Kress’s Seminar class, on the diplomatic relationship between Japan and the United States from 1936 and 1940.  The paper earned a prize at the conference (sadly runner-up to the best paper).  Still, the paper and presentation impressed a professor on my panel from William Paterson University (WPU) who approached me and encouraged me to apply to both the WPU M.A. program and a fellowship that covered tuition at WPU and had a modest stipend.  I did apply and won the fellowship.  So, the PAT conference helped me get my Master’s degree for free, and allowed me to publish articles and work on major research programs. 

My fifth memory involves the tragic passing of Dr. Gary Hunter.  I never had Dr. Hunter for a class, but I will never forget his death in May of 2003.  My interactions with Dr. Hunter were limited – mostly exchanging pleasantries as we passed each other in the department.  However, it was the reaction of the community to losing Dr. Hunter that stood out to me so much.  It was very clear that he mattered a great deal to many people, and I was sad that I would no longer have the privilege to enroll in one of his classes, which I would have done that Fall or the following Spring. 

In my teaching and professional careers, I still use what I learned from the Rowan faculty.  I try to emulate the styles of Drs. Carrigan, Heinzen, and Klapper.  They were warm, friendly, and supportive outside of the classroom but demanding and challenging inside it.  More than particular bits of knowledge, these examples, and the transformation of my writing under Dr. Klapper, are what I really gained at Rowan.

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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/