For more than three decades, I have been doing what I love – helping students have successful college experiences. I’ve had the great privilege to work with more than 10,000 students at universities, both public and private, on large and small campuses.
My students have learned from me and I have also learned a great deal from them. One of my most important roles as an educator is to listen to their experiences and exchange with them advice and insights I have gained over the years.
Students would frequently tell me, “Doc you should write this stuff down.” Well, I finally took their advice, College in Four Years is a compilation of stories that illustrate the insights my students found most useful.
I am an educator but I am truly a storyteller at heart. Both titles are the direct result of the influence my parents, both educators and great storytellers. My father (a university president) and my mother (an English professor) shared advice and insights with me in the same way I do with students – they shared their stories. Like my parents did for me and I did for my daughters, College in Four Years, gives me the opportunity to offer more students clear advice based on our experiences. No sermons or lectures, just real stories and the lessons that helped students succeed.
Dr. Granville M. Sawyer, Jr. is a tenured professor of finance and director of the MBA Program at Bowie State University. He has served as a chair of management departments and as a college dean, responsible for six departments representing eight different academic disciplines. He also taught a variety of courses at the graduate and undergraduate levels, from freshman seminar to advanced research classes, in several disciplines including finance, management and economics.
He has successfully coached student teams for national business plan competitions and advised student organizations. He has also developed interdisciplinary curricula with liberal arts colleagues through the Learning Across the Curriculum program. His breath and depth of experience resulted in insights about student success in college that he shares with readers in College in Four Years.
Dr. Sawyer also developed an externship program, funded by the U.S. Department of Education and in partnership with Addis Abba University in Ethiopia that provided students an opportunity to experience international business, commerce, art and culture on the African continent. He has traveled extensively throughout Asia, Africa, the Americas, the Caribbean and Europe on trade and educational missions.
He has been a speaker at numerous professional meetings, including the Kaufman Foundation Conference on Entrepreneurial Development, the National Association of Investment Companies and the President’s Conference on Small Business. He has been published in scholarly journals, including the Journal of Financial Economics and the International Journal of Quality Science. Dr. Sawyer is also former President of the South Orange-Maplewood, New Jersey Board of Education.
Dr. Sawyer and his wife, Donna, have two grown daughters and yes, they both graduated college in four years. He is an avid cyclist and when weather permits (and he is not teaching or telling stories at school), you’ll find him on the nearest bike trail.
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