Piedmont Profile: Bruce Robinson
Bruce Robinson holds the positions of Associate Professor and program coordinator for Information Technology. Currently, he teaches Information Literacy, Advanced Computer Applications and Integration and Office Administration.
When he hears “PVCC”, his immediate reaction is, “Hey, I teach there! I’m always excited to talk about PVCC to anybody willing to listen.” With the exception of eleven months, he has worked at PVCC for the past thirty-six years. Anyone who knows Robinson would have a mental picture of his pencil thin mustache drawn tight across his face, following his wide smile and sparkling eyes.
While in high school, he would hear his classmates talk of going to college and felt it was out of his reach. He did not have any role models who had gone to college, in fact, no one in his family had ever graduated from high school! He wanted to be like his friends who were excited about going to college.
The first thing young Robinson did was enroll in college prep courses. As his friends talked about taking their SATs, his determination mounted to sit for his SAT. When he found out there was a fee to take the test, his hopes were dashed. Being one of seven children meant there was no money in his family for non-essentials. He remembers asking his grandmother for the fee, “and she gladly obliged.”
I see Robinson’s path to success as a kid’s passion being sparked by peer exposure. A loving tribute to his friends and family, through self-empowerment. He entire journey seems to have been a blur; “….all I ever concentrated on, was working on getting to college, staying in college, graduating from college and getting employed. In 1978, those dreams were realized!”
Mr. Robinson did not come here as an instructor. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Saint Paul’s College and became one of PVCC’s three accountants. He received his first opportunity to teach a class in 1986 when the division chairman of Business and Technologies asked him if he would be interested in teaching a Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet class.
“My first day (of teaching) was exciting because I was doing something that I never thought I would be doing…” “The idea that I was a ‘teacher’ was almost too exciting to bear!” Shortly, he was given the opportunity to expand his teaching career by qualifying as a full-time instructor for PVCC. He attended James Madison University’s MBA program and then Virginia State University, with a Masters of Education in Business Education. He has been teaching full-time at PVCC since 1992.
The quality of academic expectation at PVCC is a step above all the others, according to Robinson. “I’ve visited a number of community colleges in the VCCS to actually compare our courses with theirs and I come away knowing that what we do here is superior! This doesn’t mean that they are not doing what is expected; we simply ‘step up our game’ in our desire to create not just a smarter student, but to create a well-rounded college experience.”
Robinson likes the way some students have come to realize the seriousness of their college education by gauging their instructor’s requirements concerning timely assignment submissions, class response and attentiveness and the consequences of procrastination. Students must take responsibility for their own education. As an instructor, Robinson wants, “to build experiences which allows our students to maximize their potential once they’ve completed their stay at PVCC.”
He would like to see a building on campus dedicated to students where they could, “sort of ‘stretch out’ beyond the academic rigor and relax among their peers.” I have seen this done in conjunction with a schools’ hospitality program: sub-ground level was student recreation, ground level housed the culinary department and restaurant, while hotel rooms occupied the next two levels.
When Robinson is not immersed in the miracle of education he enjoys playing tennis, reading political news stories and blogs, singing in his church choir, tackling home improvement projects and traveling.
