After teaching at Pierce for 28 years, professor Mary Chavarria will retire at the end of this semester, leaving behind some of the best students and friendliest colleagues she’s ever known.
Chavarria started teaching at Pierce in 1984 as a full-time staff member in the English Department, and has been with the school ever since.
Over the years she has seen many sides of Pierce, but the one that stands out to her the most is how open and overly demonstrative one young couple were some years back, “going at it” as Chavarria said.
“One of my thoughts was that I hope the woman was taking birth control or some precautionary measure,” Chavarria said. “That’s something I’ll remember, seeing that so openly done.”
Of course, Chavarria will be losing some of her favorite things when retires: the interaction with students and faculty, the various animals she occasionally sees, but most importantly, graduation.
“Seeing joy on the parent’s faces and just experiencing the exuberance, joy, and dismay [during graduation],” Chavarria said.