Joe Watts

Professor

“It was one of the happiest days of my life when I was hired full-time at SMC.”

Good things come to those who wait. For Joe Watts, there was a seven-year period of part-time teaching until his moment came. “I never applied for a position with another school,” he says. “SMC was the only one. And this is where I want to be.”

Joe feels quite strongly about the campus where he now teaches introduction to literature, American literature and college composition. “I think a lot of students should think more highly of the time they’re spending at SMC,” he says. “I’ve kept in touch with a lot of students who’ve gone on to larger schools. And they’ve all looked back at the instruction at SMC as being the best teaching they ever had.”

The Scholars Program is a teaching experience that Joe also values highly. “It’s a great opportunity to work with fewer students, and have more conference time in a high-caliber program,” he says. “I feel it’s an honor and a privilege to be a part of it.”

When Joe is not taking long strolls along the shore to add to his seashell collection, he spends a lot of time listening to “the three B’s: Beethoven, Bach, Beatles.” But teaching is the activity that he feels he was born to do.“To be a good teacher, you have to have love and enthusiasm for your subject. And,” he adds with a laugh, “it doesn’t hurt to once in a while make a fool of yourself.”

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