When Professor of History Glenn McNair tells students it’s OK to not have everything about their lives figured out yet, he knows what he’s talking about.
A former police officer who spent time working as a stockbroker and radio talk show host before finally settling on a career in academia, his life has taken plenty of unexpected twists and turns.
“Every student has this idea that they need to know what their life path is going to be when they’re 18, and I’m like, ‘No, I’m a living example. It’s an ongoing process of discovery and you’re just beginning it,’” he said.
McNair’s ability to connect with students while dispensing helpful advice — not just about academics, but about life — led to him being named this year’s winner of the College’s Faculty Advising Award on Founders’ Day.
The award recognizes and rewards the commitment, dedication and energy that faculty devote to academic advising — both formally and informally, relating to questions big and small. Kenyon was the first institution in the U.S. to implement the model of faculty members serving as academic advisors.
McNair’s advisees describe him as “personally inspiring … a challenging educator, and a wise individual who … embodies a spirit of curiosity and intellectual rigor.” Through both his words and what one advisee calls his “stunning positive example,” McNair inspires students to engage in wide-ranging inquiry and deep self-reflection.
A student who followed a nontraditional path, McNair took time off from college after his father’s death and changed majors multiple times at Savannah State University, switching from music — he plays the trumpet — to business to political science and, finally, to criminal justice.
He spent much of his early career in law enforcement, including time as a police officer and as a special agent for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. (While with the ATF, he was assigned to the Secret Service for a year.)
Later, he decided to pursue his love of talking about ideas, receiving a Master of Arts in history from Georgia College & State University and a doctorate in American history from Emory University. McNair joined Kenyon in 2001 and has become a beloved professor with an expertise in race and criminal justice; slavery and Southern history; and the Black Power movement of the 1960s.
He is co-director of the Kenyon Academic Partnership early college program, former director of the Camp 4 summer program for high school students, and a former chair of the history department. A winner of Kenyon’s Trustee Teaching Excellence Award, he also is editor of Georgia Historical Quarterly.
As an advisor, McNair said he tries to see and encourage the potential in others that they don’t see in themselves — just as his professors did when he was in college. He urges students to rediscover their curiosity, listen to their inner voice, and give themselves a little grace.
“Students are really hard on themselves,” he said. “They really do think every decision is a monumental one.”
A natural storyteller who carries coins with bits of Stoic or Buddhist wisdom printed on them, McNair loves connecting with students and helping them learn about themselves — and he has a million and one stories to draw on to do it.
“I’ve had a long and varied life, and I want to share that,” he said. “Life has allowed me to see a lot of things about the best and the worst of people and to learn the best and worst about myself.”
Students who have noticed aren’t shy about seeking him out. As one reported: “I often find myself signing up for a 15-minute office hour appointment, but staying for 45 minutes because we got (caught) up in a thought-provoking conversation.”