ABAC has seen a fair share of professors come and go over the years, with new faces coming, and old, familiar faces retiring. But there are some professors who have been here for quite a while and have no intention of retiring soon.
In Dec. of 1985, Kip Hall was interviewed for a teaching position at ABAC. The very next day, he signed a contract, and by the start of spring semester, was teaching, “and the rest, as they say, is history,” Hall told The Stallion.
Back then, ABAC was primarily a two year school, and the Forestry program was much different than it is now.
“Well… some of the areas of specialty were Silviculture, the Insects and Disease class, industries in the summer.” With the addition of a baccalaureate program, Hall has branched out to teach Fire Ecology and the Forestry Issues class.
Before becoming a professor at ABAC, Hall studied as a biology undergraduate at Marietta College, working as a teaching assistant for a dendrology class. According to Hall, this is when he began to consider the idea of becoming a college professor.
He continued to work as a teaching assistant when he went to get his master’s at Penn State, solidifying those thoughts of teaching.
“Again, it’s kind of like, ‘Hey, maybe I’d like to do this,’ and then when the position came open at ABAC, it’s like, ‘Wow! I’ve actually already taught some of these classes. I think I can do this.’”
Having been a teacher at ABAC for over 30 years, most of that time has been spent working in the field that Hall considers his “first love.” While Hall still loves the field, he does feel that his priorities hadn’t been balanced.
“With the power of hindsight, I’ve probably overdone the career thing a little more than I should have.” Though Hall’s more than 30 years of service hasn’t gone unnoticed; during the spring semester, Hall received the W. Bruce and Rosalyn Ray Donaldson Award for Teaching Excellence.
And after all these years of service, Hall says he has no plans to leave ABAC anytime soon. “There are so many young, talented professors here now, I guess given my age and health… I don’t really have any plans to hang it up, at least imminently.”
