By Sara Beth Coffman
When I was in college, my mother’s only advice was “come out with a title.” Like many curious minds, I bounced between departments: education, law, music, and the social sciences all competed with my first love of English. I wasn’t certain of much more than this fact: I loved books and learning and wanted to spend my life surrounded by both. I ended up with a BA in English (decidedly against my mother’s advice) and entered graduate school at UVA, aiming at a PhD and its accompanying title. Along the way, however, I decided I wanted a family more than I wanted a tenure-track position, so I finished my MA and began quite a meandering career path.
My first step on this journey was at a tiny co-op school in Virginia, where I taught a mixed-age elementary class, did yoga for PE, and brought my dog to school on Wednesdays. I was also teaching writing to adult learners returning to college. I fell in love with teaching, and upon returning to my hometown of Chattanooga, I joined the English department at Chattanooga State, teaching Composition 1 and 2, both traditional and dual enrollment classes. From there, I moved in and out of various classrooms, teaching at UTC for many years and then shifting gears to teach 10-graders. I also had two extraordinary kids, taught piano, wrote, and even drove a compost truck for a very short stint!
There have been a few titles along the way, but none felt more right than when I got the unexpected opportunity to run the library program at the private school where I had previously been teaching. It was invigorating, a perfect match of my interests and abilities, and a fantastic challenge as I was forced to learn on the job so many of the critical skills required of librarians. Finally, I had found my title. But I didn’t have the degree, so I went back to school, earned an MS in Information Sciences from UTK, and became a librarian. Here, too, I’ve struggled to stay still, working first at the public library in youth and children’s services, then at a public middle school, and now, finally, I’m here -- back home at Chattanooga State, surrounded by books and learning and an amazing team of librarians. And for once, I don’t want to bounce anymore.
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