Professor of 33 years set to retire after spring semester

English professor Adam Davis has been at Truman for 33 years, and at the end of this year, he will end his tenure and go into retirement. He was hired in 1991 to teach linguistics and medieval studies, but over time, Davis gained more specialties and taught a multitude of subjects. Davis’s main fields are folklore, mythology and creative writing.

 Davis is also a teacher for the Joseph Baldwin Academy program, and said he enjoys working with middle school students. His favorite classes to teach were the History of English Language and the Interdisciplinary Studio Art courses. 

“I feel that I’m still doing a rather good job and am still getting good feedback from students, but I would rather leave the party while everybody wishes I stayed,” Davis said. “It just feels like it’s time.” 

While at Truman, Davis said he learned that what makes teaching important is not the subject matter that’s transmitted, but rather what the teaching enables students to do and their growth. 

After retirement, Davis said he plans to volunteer with his wife who is retired, and he is looking forward to settling into a new life with more time for leisure activities than before.

“Harry Truman said regret is a waste of time, although I do wish I had another lifetime to learn and experience more stuff,” Davis said. “I wish I’d learned to play a musical instrument. Lots of my students play musical instruments, and sometimes I get to sit with them while they play, and it seems like they’re having a lot of fun.” 

Creative writing and English professor James D’Agostino has been a colleague of  Davis for the last 19 years when he was hired in 2006 for a temporary teaching position. D’Agostino described Davis as being the embodiment of everything that the University calls a liberal artist.

“When I came on to teach here, Adam was already well established as an institution on this campus and could not have been more welcoming to new faculty.” D’Agostino said, “I applied for an interview [at the University] and Adam was one of the people on the board asking questions. So he asked me about debates that were going on at the University and I started answering then realized I had no idea what I was talking about. I remember Adam nodding his head politely, and he had a little bit of an expression on his face. Then he backed up and sort of re-approached some of the same issues but within the context of my experience in the classroom. And for me that’s such a classic Adam moment because he was pressing me a little bit, trying to find out what I know and what I could contribute. But when he recognized that there wasn’t much happening there, he was able to reframe it in such a way that was meaningful for me.” 

D’Agostino says he will miss Davis as a co-worker. After 19 years of working alongside Davis, D’Agostino said he has enjoyed his companionship.

D’Agostino describes Davis’s teaching style as unique to him in both style and approach.

“The thing I noticed about Adam is he is able to tap into so many different approaches,” D’Agostino said. “He’s so receptive to what his students’ needs are and how that changes over the years, what their interests are and how that’s evolved recently. He’s a little bit intimidating because he’s so knowledgeable and has so much experience. But he really transmits his passions in a genuine way.” 

A student in Davis’s mythology class, senior Macie Lee, says there’s always notes on the board during class, and if you ask for help he’ll do so to his best abilities. 

She says his teaching style is easy to understand as long as you’re paying attention to what he is teaching.

“He seems really cool, I like his teaching style and how it really works with the class,” Lee said.

Davis has taught a long list of subjects during his time here at Truman. He’s taught a variety of courses in literature, although primarily medieval literature, as well as Old English and German language courses. Davis also taught multiple courses in linguistics, folklore, mythology, and creative writing. 

 “I will miss my students once I retire, I won’t miss the meetings and reports though,” Davis said. “It has been a great gift to be part of this institution and to work with the people I’ve known. It’s been a very rich life over 30 plus years.”