Wishing Kevin Gillen the best

By Diona Eskew

It’s a new semester this fall, new classes, new faces, and new routines. However, someone will be missing from the Communication Studies department in the Ernestine M. Raclin School of the Arts. Senior Lecturer, Kevin Gillen retired over the summer.

While he is leaving as a full-time faculty member, his legacy remains on campus. “In a recent faculty meeting, I looked around at eight of my colleagues,” Gillen said as he reflected on that day. “Perhaps it was coincidence that day, all lined up together, but across the conference table, I realized that the people in my view were all former students and advisees. Almost half of everyone at the meeting. I think I have never felt prouder.”

Sitting at that conference table were Tami Martinez, assistant dean in the School of the Arts, senior lecturer in communication arts; Cory Iwaszewski, media and community outreach manager for the School of the Arts; Ryan Lohman and Diona Eskew, visiting lecturers for communication studies.

“He hired me!” Tami expressed her gratitude for Kevin’s role in her being at IU South Bend. “It’s because of him that I’m at IUSB. I’ll always be thankful for that.”

“He inspired me to find my path, which led me to teaching,” Eskew said. “From my undergrad studies to side-by-side offices I’ve always enjoyed learning and working with Kevin.” Kevin’s teaching has touched the lives of many students over the years both professionally and personally. His charisma puts students at ease in public speaking classes, his unique teaching style inspires and motivates students.

“Kevin has always been student-focused,” said Tamea Rector, Coordinator of Student Services for the Arts. “He has put many a nervous freshman at ease about the prospect of public speaking and set them up for success in their academic careers as well as for future employment.”

Ashley Cox, senior communication studies student, said, “Having him in class was a blast. I have never enjoyed a Public Speaking class as much as I did in his class. He always knew how to have a good time and to make you feel comfortable when it came to speaking in front of people.” Public Speaking has been the main course Gillen has taught over the years and his ability to put students at ease has made the course not just tolerable but enjoyable.

“When I was first hired, I taught Public Speaking 100% of the time,” Gillen said. The first semester he taught 200 students. “I have since calculated and realized that I have watched and graded over 15,000 speeches.”

Amazingly, Kevin has taught more than 4,000 students since beginning at IU South Bend, according to his math calculations. He has taught not only Public Speaking but also Interpersonal Communication, Business and Professional Communication, Introduction to Speech Communication, and has facilitated Internships. However, Kevin’s favorite course to teach has been Cross-Cultural Communication.

“About two years into teaching, the assistant dean at the time made the decision to give me a chance to teach it, since it desperately needed a ‘reboot’ at the time,” Kevin explained. “I had long made my identity known as a minority rights advocate, but I also always had great interest in other cultures and how every aspect of communication is affected by it. So, it happened, and so it was meant to be. I taught the course continuously from that moment, until retirement.”

Wishing Kevin the best

I loved your enthusiastic approach to teaching. Your presentation of what could be rather dry material made it interesting and applicable. As an academic advisor you were tops. Your affability made it where I could just sit and talk with you in your office for long periods of time and it would just be like talking to a friend. Definitely one of my favorite professors, I’m very lucky to have met you.

- Eric Brubaker, former student

I am so sad to see Professor Gillen leave. He has been my advisor throughout college and anytime I would go in his office he always made me feel welcome and helped me out with anything I needed. He will be greatly missed in the communication department, but I know his life outside of class will not be boring.

- Ashley Cox, senior communication studies

I am so grateful that I have met you. Over the years your guidance has grown into friendship and while I’ll miss seeing you on campus, I look forward to seeing your adventures in retirement. You’ve earned this, enjoy every minute of it!

- Diona Eskew, visiting lecturer

Always loved your classes. They were not the traditional head in the book kind of exchange, but more of an open air, free flowing class. You don’t find that too often. The graveyard assignment was really interesting. And a class exercise where you said a phrase and then we had to write down a word to describe it was really insightful. I still have what I wrote. I always respected you and still do.

- Maria Majerek, former student

I’ve only had Gillen for an online class that I took in the Spring of 2019, but even from our virtual interactions, I was excited and inspired by his energy. It’s a shame that I never had the chance to have an in-person class with him, but I know from some of my classmates that he was never boring and always entertaining—a joy to have a class with.

- Taylor Waldron, senior communication studies major

“Well, life BCE (Before Covid Era), I was planning on travelling the world,” Gillen commented regarding retirement plans. “For now, I will save money for some not-too-distant future when I hope to experience places I have never been, such as New Zealand and Japan. But perhaps on my bucket list is spending time in the parts of the world where I have the most ancestors; eastern and southern Europe and the UK. I want to see a sunrise and a sunset in exactly the place my 4-5x grandparents did. This is my spirituality.”

You may still see Kevin in the halls and classrooms on campus. Even though he’s retiring, his love of working with students and passion for education will keep him around part-time, as an adjunct lecturer. “I hope to be an adjunct for many years to come,” Gillen said. “I also hope to continue as the site visitor for the Advance College Project based out of IU Bloomington. These visits keep me learning curriculum design, technology changes, and I get to have fun with other teachers. What’s not to like?”

Kevin is looking forward to retirement but admits there are a few things he will miss, colleagues, students, and service. “This milestone comes with mixed feelings because everyone I work with has become much more than a colleague, they have become my family,” Gillen said. He attributes working with students to keeping him feeling young. “Not only have I taught them, they have taught me with their fresh, bright, and positive energy.”

From the garden to the classroom

It began in the late 1990s when life circumstances brought Kevin Gillen from 25 years working in horticulture in Boston, Massachusetts and southern California to Michiana.

“I had to re-invent myself,” Gillen said. “It was an important lesson to learn that an associate degree was no longer going to be enough.” Soon he began taking courses at IU South Bend. “I made the decision to ‘see if I can do it’ and – begrudgingly – went back for more education. I was certainly ‘too old’. I never thought it would work. But to my surprise, I was accepted into the Business program at IU South Bend.”

The start in Business seemed like a great fit for Kevin. “I knew business, as I had many years’ experience in it, so this seemed perfect. But then the math ball dropped.” That’s when Kevin knew that wasn’t the right path for him and ultimately led to the Ernestine Raclin School of the Arts and Communication Studies.

“I promised myself to give it a try for one semester. If it didn’t work, I’ve lost nothing,” Kevin explained. “Instead, I finished with a 3.98 GPA in that semester and said, ‘hmm, okay!’ I was off and running.” While working on his Bachelor of Arts in public relations Kevin experienced an epiphany. “It hit me when I learned so much new content about the world and all at once I thought, ‘Other people need to know this!’”

“I began by sharing my desire and passion to extend this knowledge in my undergrad presentations and was chosen by my instructors as student of the year, and I was recognized for my leadership in creating a Communication Club on campus, as well as being initiated into the Who’s Who of American Students.”

“Then 9/11 happened. Instead of wanting to ‘get back out there and get a job,’ the uncertainty of those times, gave us all pause,” Kevin said. “I chose instead to continue my education and three months after I graduated from IU, I was enrolled in a master’s program at Ball State.”

All the friendships and connections that Kevin made while at IU South Bend made the transition from student to teacher nearly perfect after completing the MA program in 12 months. “I was on a roll,” Kevin said. “I maintained my connections with IU South Bend, so it was a natural match when 15 months after graduating with my BA, I was hired as a visiting lecturer and never looked back. I had landed exactly where I was supposed to be.

“I remember pinning Kevin’s honors cords for High Distinction on his robe at Commencement in 2002 when he completed his undergraduate degree in Speech Communication at IUSB,” said Tamea Rector. “And I was thrilled to see him return to the Arts in 2003 when he began teaching Public Speaking and Cross-Cultural Communication a few years later.”

Kevin’s final thoughts and advice

“From the very first day on the job until today, I was and continue to be super proud of being an 'IU' faculty member. To all the people who were instrumental in hiring me, all the way up to everyone on campus today, I extend my deepest gratitude for giving me this amazing and outrageously perfect opportunity.”

To students: “You have more answers than you know.” Gillen believes in his role to support and guide students to help them grow. Through his courses he would use blunders as examples that not being perfect is okay and everyone makes mistakes. “I always told my students that I had a speech impediment when I was very young. If that gives you inspiration, good. But you are your own best inspiration already.”

To his colleagues: “You can’t possibly know how proud I am to have been a colleague of yours and been incorporated into the family that is Communication Studies. I have grown and learned and benefited from this relationship in myriad ways and I am so thankful for this honor and this privilege. I’m a lucky guy.”

I have enjoyed working with him for the past 17-years and wish him the best in his new journey.

- Tamea Rector, coordinator of student services

You were one of my favorite professors ever. Your class has changed how I value non-verbal communication to this day. I believe I took your class 10 years ago. You had the greatest energy, stories, and experience. I was shy and you had a way to make me feel comfortable to contribute to the class. I wish I had more classes with you and more professors like you as well.

- Allysa Winston, former student

You were seriously one of my favorite professors. I remember when you became my academic advisor when I switched majors and I met with you after my dad passed away so we could go over how to make sure I got all my credits in. You were so kind and so extremely helpful. You got me through a crazy transition. I also loved all the funny stories you would share in class and chatting with you when I saw you in the halls.

- Alyssa Utter, former student

I have had Kevin for two classes in my college career at IUSB. The first class was for my spring internship the other class is an interpersonal communication class.

Kevin and I connected on our shared passion for the Titanic, it came up when I mentioned the bumper sticker he had pinned up in his office. Later on, as he announced his retirement, I was extremely saddened because I enjoyed every conversation about the Titanic we had.

During a meeting on an honors assignment for his class Kevin gifted me the original bumper sticker that made us have that first conversation on the Titanic. For the rest of the spring semester till COVID–19 hit Kevin gave me several books and a calendar from his collection. Not only did he want me to have these, but he stated how awesome it was to have a fellow student interested in a part of history and he was happy to have someone continue their knowledge in the Titanic.

These items I will hang on to forever and will always bring me back to IUSB and one of the great professors I had the pleasure of having.

- Melissa Swanson, senior communication studies major