Thomas C. Graf

Thomas C. Graf

  “A Wide Variety of Perspectives”:" Thomas C. Graf (‘93) Remembers Learning to See the World in a More Complex Manner -- Memory #45 of 100  

Today’s Project 100 memory comes from Thomas C. Graf.  He was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, and he grew up in Walpole, Massachusetts.  His father was a school administrator, eventually a superintendent of schools, and his mother was an elementary school teacher.  When he was 14, his family moved to southern New Jersey.  He attended public schools and graduated from Washington Township High School in 1987.  After graduating high school with a mixed academic record, he worked a series of jobs before deciding to attend college, beginning at Gloucester County College.  He began at Glassboro State College in the Fall of 1990.  In addition to pursuing his history coursework, in 1992, he took a summer job as a ticket writer at Rowan, which led to a part-time position with Public Safety in the Fall.  That same semester, the Fall of 1992, he finished his history degree and became one of the very first graduates of Rowan College of New Jersey.  In 1993, he began a Master’s degree in history at Rutgers University in Camden.  He completed his Master’s in the Spring of 1995.  He then earned a job with the Department of Defense, where he worked for five years.  He then transferred to the United States Customs Service where he took a job as a Paralegal Specialist.  After three years, he then began working as an Import Specialist for Customs and Border Protection, under the Department of Homeland Security.  He continues in that role to the present.

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Glassboro State was a natural choice for me. It was local and affordable.  I had not been a good high school student, but I had done well in community college.  I feel very lucky about my college choice.  The faculty were diverse and approached things from a wide variety of perspectives.  Five stand out in particular to me.  Gary Hunter was an incredible professor.  He held people to a standard of excellence, and he made you better.  He was very knowledgeable, and he made me a better writer and researcher.  Richard Porterfield taught me quite a bit.  I had him for historiography, where he taught me that the motives of the historian were just as important as what they wrote.  David Applebaum was very supportive of me.  We had some great discussions.  He was not only very nice but also quite an interesting person.  He had a different outlook from others, and he helped me see things from yet another perspective.  I only had one course with new faculty member, Cory Blake, but her course on the history of the Middle East was excellent. Lee Kress and I had the most in common, and I was most interested in the courses that he taught. I had him for Military History and for Senior Seminar.  For Seminar, I wrote on the history of Glassboro State during World War II.  He was the one who presented me with the Medallion Award my senior year.  I also believe that Dr. Hunter nominated me for that award. 

I was at Glassboro College at the time of the Henry Rowan gift, and I was one of the very first graduates of the renamed Rowan College. I always understood the desire to change the name.  Others were not so understanding, but I thought it was an amazing and potentially transformative gift at the time.  I have followed with pride the realization of this potential and the expansion of the University in the years following.  I was particularly pleased to read recently of the amazing archaeological discovery at Red Bank Battlefield. I was very gratified that Rowan was doing this work instead of another institution. 

Inside and outside of the classroom, I had a great time at Glassboro State and Rowan.  I loved the campus and met some great people, several of which remain very dear friends to this day.  My roommate and I worked at Sony for much of my time at Rowan. In my last semester, I began working for Public Safety, and I had a really great experience with those folks as well.  I continued working there even after graduation.  When I began graduate school, I realized that I had received excellent preparation, better than many of my peers who had gone to other colleges.  I felt that I had some genuine advantages in research experience.  My time at Glassboro State and later Rowan was wonderful for me. 

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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.