Three Catawba College faculty members who are retiring at the end of this academic year were recognized during May 17th commencement exercises on campus.
Anderson
Dr. Douglas Anderson
Dr. Anderson joined the Catawba faculty in 2001 after he and his wife relocated to Salisbury upon his retirement from Ashland University in Ohio. At Ashland, he had served as Professor of Business and Director of the MBA Program. Prior to that, he served as Dean of Business at an Ohio State University branch campus.
Dr. Anderson held appointments under the Clinton and Bush Administrations as National Quality Examiner, the nation's highest examiner level for organizational quality systems assessment.
At Catawba, Dr. Anderson was responsible for a number of the core courses in the Business Administration major and was widely respected by his students for the breadth of his knowledge, his extensive professional experience, and the superior quality of his courses.
Dr. Anderson earned his bachelor's degree and his doctorate from Bowling Green State University and a master's degree in business from The Ohio State University.
Hayes
Professor Julia Grimes Hayes '83
Professor Hayes is a Catawba alumna, who graduated magna cum laude in 1983 with a major in English and a minor in Psychology. She, and her two sisters, Dr. Katherine Grimes, a 1977 Catawba alumna, and Jane Grimes Brown, a 1981 Catawba alumna, followed in their late father's footsteps, the Rev. Van D. Grimes, a 1963 alumnus, to attend his alma mater.
Professor Hayes continued her education after her Catawba graduation by earning her M.A. in English at UNC Charlotte and completing additional graduate study at UNC Greensboro.
She joined the English faculty of Catawba in 1985 as an instructor, her first fulltime job after college. She was a Master Learner in the Educare program in the 1980s. Catawba College has a Writing Center today in part because Professor Hayes knew that being able to write well is important. She and English Professor Emeritus Dr. Jesse McCartney researched and wrote the proposal for the Writing Center here back in the late 1990s and after it was established, she served as the Writing Center's director for a time.
She has taught numerous sections of freshman and sophomore composition, in addition to Introduction to Poetry, Introduction to Fiction, African-American Literature and First-Year Seminar. She has served as advisor to Alpha Chi, a national honor society, as well as advisor to the Diversity Club.
She was recognized in April at the College's Awards Convocation as the faculty/staff recipient of the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award. A committee of students and faculty choose both a student and a faculty/staff member annually to receive this award. It is given in recognition of fine spiritual qualities practically applied to daily living and with the belief that these persons will uphold the spiritual standards of Catawba by their noble characteristics. The award was established by the New York Southern Society as a permanent reminder of the noblest human qualities expressed and followed in the life of its first president Algernon Sydney Sullivan.
Married to husband, Robert, the couple has three adult children, Lizzie White, who graduated with Catawba's Class of 2014 and will enter Duke University this fall to pursue a Ph.D. in Chemistry. Their son, Chris, is also a Catawba alumnus, a 2013 graduate of the School of Evening and Graduate Studies.
Kasias
Dr. Lou Ann Kasias
Dr. Kasias joined the faculty in 1982 as an assistant professor of education. She had earned her bachelor's degree from Western Carolina University and the master's degree and Ph.D. from UNC Greensboro. Her prior experience before coming to Catawba included service as a middle-school grade teacher in the Burlington, Winston-Salem, and High Point schools. She had also taught as a part time instructor at High Point College and UNC Greensboro.
During her early years at Catawba, she was involved in constructing the outlines and materials for the Master Learner component of the freshman program. She was also a Middle School Specialist and Director of a Reading Diagnostic Clinic that specialized in diagnosis and remediation of reading.
Dr. Kasias was granted tenure at Catawba in 1988 with a recommendation from then college president, Dr. Stephen Wurster, who called her “a tireless worker who contributes much to the College's programs in ways that often go unrecognized." Dr. Kasias was tapped to serve as the director of Catawba's Graduate program in Education in the 1999, a position she has held until her retirement.
Several times during her years at Catawba, she was named the Clifford A. and Lillian C. Peeler Endowed Professor of Education. Dr. Kasias was recognized in April at the annual Awards Convocation as the recipient of the Trustee Award for Outstanding Contribution to the College. The award is given annually to the person or persons judged to have made an outstanding contribution to the institution. The recipient is selected by a vote of Catawba's faculty senate.
A resident of High Point, Dr. Kasias is married to husband Sam and the two are parents of daughter Leigh.
