DR. RICKEY MADDEN
EVOLVING FROM DREAM JOB TO RETIREMENT
By Robert W. Dalton
Chalk and talk.
Those were the tools Dr. Rickey Madden had at his disposal when he began his teaching career 40 years ago. As technology evolved, so did Madden.
“Technology has changed education in general, but it has totally transformed marketing and business with e-commerce and information,” says Madden, associate professor of business and coordinator of the business program. “The changes kept me scrambling.”
Madden retired at the end of the semester after 14 years at Wofford. Wofford was the sixth and final stop of his career.
Madden was teaching at Presbyterian College in Clinton, S.C., in 2008. He was happy there, but one day he was reading the Chronicle of Higher Education and saw that Wofford was seeking a marketing professor. He decided to go for it.
“I always wanted to teach here,” he says. “This was my dream job. This is such a great place.”
Madden says he enjoys teaching and walked into class each day with the same enthusiasm he had when he started.
“I try to give it everything I can,” he says. “I can walk away every day and say I earned my paycheck.”
Madden has a short list of things he won’t miss — commuting 20 miles to work each day, meetings and grading. He’ll have a tough time saying goodbye to everything else. His colleagues and students are at the top of that list.
“The students keep me young,” he says. “I would tell them to be as good as you possibly can and work as hard as you can. And on the last day I told them that I wish for you what I have, a job that you love.”
Madden plans to spend his days reading — he especially enjoys Sherlock Holmes mysteries — gardening and volunteering. He also might make a new friend.
“Jenny Bem (associate professor of accounting) is bound and determined that I get a dog,” he says. “She’s fostering some goldendoodles, but I’ve told her those dogs are too active for me. I want a dog like me, old and arthritic, so we can both sit around and groan.”
DR. SALLY HITCHMOUGH
LOOKING FORWARD TO DAILY WALKS
By Robert W. Dalton
It takes Dr. Sally Hitchmough 13 minutes to walk from her house to the home of her daughter Rachel Chalmers ’16. It’s a walk she’ll make often this summer, when Rachel has a baby.
“It takes longer if you drive,” says Hitchmough.
Hitchmough, professor of English, will have plenty of time to make that walk. She retired after a 27-year association with Wofford.
Hitchmough and her husband, Dr. Alan Chalmers, a professor of English at Wofford, came to Spartanburg from Oregon in 1991 after he was offered a position by a nearby university. She taught a course at other area colleges until 1996, when she was recruited by Wofford as a one-year fill-in for Dr. George Martin ’59, professor emeritus (now deceased) and retired chair of the Department of English. She was offered a tenure-track position in 2001.
“I stayed because I loved Wofford. I loved the community and the focus on learning and service, which went together very nicely,” she says.
Teaching is all Hitchmough ever wanted to do, and she was at it for 43 years. She started as a high school English and drama teacher in her native England before coming to the United States to earn her Ph.D.
“I wanted to be an English teacher since I was 8,” she says. “I was reading all the time. I love reading, writing and the languages.”
Hitchmough says she’s looking forward to spending more time with Rachel and her other children, Amy ’11 and Ben ’14. She’s ready to read what she wants and travel when she wants. First up is a trip to the coast and then a trip to England to visit family.
She says she’ll miss things that others might find mundane: the start of the new semester, the start of each class, spontaneous conversations with colleagues and students.
“I’m going to miss the community very much,” she says. “I’m going to miss walking into a class not knowing where the discussion is going to go. The students are always so fun and hopeful.”
Hitchmough says there was one lesson she tried to teach in every class, and she hopes it stuck with her students.
“Read carefully, listen to other people, get out of your comfort zone and keep an open mind,” she says.
DR. EDDIE RICHARDSON
PLANS TO BECOME A STUDENT
By Dudley Brown
Dr. Eddie Richardson received many notes from former students who heard that he was retiring, including one that captured what he hopes to have imparted.
The letter writer expressed appreciation for the inclusive nature of his classes and his teaching ability before writing, “Your desire to improve yourself inspires me not to be afraid to take risks.”
Richardson, professor of accounting, business and finance, retired after the spring semester. He had 31 years of service to the college.
Richardson first came to Wofford in 1992 to serve as director of institutional research. He left in 2000 to lead a tech company that fell victim to the burst of the dot-com bubble a few months after he arrived. He returned to Wofford to teach in 2002.
“What I love most was being in the classroom,” Richardson says. “You gotta be a little bit of an actor to hold the attention of students. I have a little bit of drama, I suppose, and I like being around students.”
A personal finance course was one of Richardson’s favorites to teach. He restricted it to seniors who had never taken a business class.
“Do you know what it means to take out a mortgage on a house or buy a car, and do you need life insurance,” are questions that he liked asking students as many prepared to sign their first apartment leases.
That course stemmed from a desire that Richardson and his wife, Dee, had to not only get a better understanding of their personal finances but to help others, too.
Music is one of Richardson’s passions. He started playing the guitar as a teenager and played with a band consisting of Wofford faculty for a while.
He enjoys sailing on Lake Keowee and plans to take classes at Spartanburg Community College. He and Dee have already taken an American Sign Language class.
“I hope to learn how to work on HVAC systems,” Richardson says.
DR. G.R. DAVIS
READY TO HIT THE OPEN ROAD
By Robert W. Dalton
Dr. G.R. Davis plans to drive into retirement by taking “Vanna White” across the country and conquering a dragon one more time.
Davis, McCalla Professor of Biology, retired with 29 years of service at the end of the academic year. He has no intention of taking to a rocking chair.
“I have a whole list of things I want to do,” he says. “I want to restore my dad’s 1950 John Deere tractor, see someone restore a grand piano and learn to sail.”
He also wants to drive to California in the rusty white 1998 GMC Savannah van that he affectionately calls “Vanna White.” After that, or maybe before, he’ll hop on his 2004 Honda Shadow motorcycle and ride the Tail of the Dragon, a section of U.S. Highway 129 in North Carolina bordered by the Great Smoky Mountains and the Cherokee National Forest that features 318 curves in an 11-mile stretch.
Oh, he also plans to spend time with his grandchildren.
“My life is going to be a bunch of this, that and the other,” he says.
Davis came to Wofford after a stint at Wingate University. When Wingate’s enrollment dropped, he volunteered to do post-doctoral work to prevent anyone from being laid off, and he planned to return when another faculty member retired. In the interim, a position came open at Wofford.
“I thought it would be a warm-up interview,” Davis says, “but I fell in love with the place. This is home. It’s where I fit.”
Davis says he’ll be forever grateful for the way the Wofford community took care of him in 2014, when his wife, Tia, was diagnosed with cancer and died seven weeks later.
“My colleagues stepped in and covered my classes and labs for the rest of the semester,” Davis says. “I owe this place.”
Davis says he’ll miss seeing those colleagues every day. He’ll also miss taking students abroad during Interim.
“My world was vastly expanded by the January travel Interims,” he says. “I traveled to 25 countries and came to appreciate the cultural differences.”
Davis ended the spring semester the way he’s ended every other. He spent the last six minutes of class reciting a Garrison Keillor poem about the importance of chasing dreams.
“My dream came true,” Davis says. “I’ve been paid to do what I love.”
DR. DAVE KUSHER
DIVING INTO RETIREMENT
By Robert W. Dalton
Dr. Dave Kusher, professor of biology, spent more than three weeks in California, arriving back in Spartanburg around midnight on April 24. Bright and early on April 26, he was off for a three-week tour of New England. In June, he’ll head to the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state, and then he’ll do three weeks in Maine in July. August is up in the air, but plans are locked in for the fall.
Kusher retired at the end of Interim after 27 years at Wofford.
“I miss being in a classroom, and I’ll miss it going forward,” says Kusher. “But I’m 70. It’s time to have more fun.”
For 25 of his years at Wofford, Kusher led a popular travel Interim, taking students scuba diving to explore coral reefs. During that time, 480 Wofford students earned their scuba certification. While the trips were fun, Kusher says they also taught students how fragile coral reefs are and how vital their existence is to the planet.
“There are three guys taking over that Interim. I had them all sign a document saying if Kusher wants to go on a trip, he gets to go as one of the adults,” Kusher says with a laugh.
In addition to teaching biology and the impact humans have on the environment, Kusher says he stressed the importance of critical thinking.
“I’d tell them to take in information, evaluate it and make up your own mind,” Kusher says. “It’s really important to apply what you learn toward your life, your career and society.”
Outside of the classroom, Kusher says he’s proud to have been part of the committee that worked to make Wofford a tobacco-free campus. He also played a role in the college designating 17 all-gender restrooms across campus.
“I’ve always been one that if I see an issue, I really go right at it,” says Kusher, who plans to stay involved with Wofford through the Lifelong Learning program.
“I’m just going to have fun since I don’t have to worry about a schedule,” he says.
DR. EUN-SUN LEE
PLANNING A DIFFERENT TYPE OF PLAY
By Dudley Brown
Dr. Eun-Sun Lee has fielded the question that all new retirees are asked, “What are you going to do?”
“Music was a top priority in my life,” says Lee, who began playing the violin at 9. “It was an intense childhood. I didn’t get to play enough, and I don’t mean the violin. I want to travel. I want to enjoy life with colleagues and friends while I’m still able to run, dance, hop and skip.”
Lee, professor of music and director of string ensembles, retired after the 2022-23 academic year. She served Wofford College for 19 years, and she started the Wofford Chamber Players.
“The goal is to make music that fulfills the composer’s intent,” Lee says. “I hope that, in doing so, I’ve fulfilled the mission of the college as well, since ensembles are hands-on, applied learning that encourages players to communicate and respect everyone while setting aside differences to make music. We must respect each other to elevate the performance, and that’s a humbling experience.”
Lee’s father was a diplomat and an amateur violinist. He was her first teacher, and she’s grateful for her parents’ love for music and how they encouraged her.
She cherishes the opportunities that she received to share music with the community, including Wofford’s Dunlap Chamber Music Series, which lasted 15 years before the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It offered the highest levels of classical music performances for Spartanburg and the local area, and it was free,” Lee says. “It put Wofford College and the music program on the map for chamber music performances.”
She’s appreciative of the support that she received from the college’s presidents, Dr. Joe Lesesne, Dr. Bernie Dunlap and Dr. Nayef Samhat, and many others, including those who gifted the college with the three grand pianos she helped secure. One of those pianos is the seven-foot Steinway grand piano in Leonard Auditorium.
She studied at The Juilliard School in New York City with renowned violin pedagogue Dorothy DeLay and credits the late violinist Eudice Shapiro, a mentor from the University of Southern California, for opportunities early in her career that exposed her to the possibilities for a professor of music.
“I was in the unique position of having opportunities to do what I love to do by performing, teaching, raising my son and having a family life,” Lee says. “It’s more difficult if you’re a concert musician because you must leave your children while touring. I was able to have a balanced life.”