"The association I have with our students as well as their diversity and tenacity are traits that consistently impress and inspire me."

— Dr. Alan Hunt, TESU Mentor

Alan Hunt, Lidded Container, 2014. Maple with polyurethane finish, 18".

Alan Hunt, Porcelain Bud Vase, 1995. Oil spot glaze on porcelain, 6".

Meet a Mentor: Alan Hunt, PhD

Altering His Course

After growing up in an environment conducive to creativity, it was only natural that Dr. Alan Hunt would pursue a career driven by inspiration and ingenuity.

Influenced by his mother who he said was a gifted artist, Hunt thought he would pursue a fine arts degree in college. A conversation with both parents, however, soon altered his decision.

"I had my portfolio prepared for submission to an art school when my parents asked: 'What will you do with your art degree?' I didn't have an answer, so I re-evaluated my strategy." Hunt went on to pursue his Bachelor of Science in Botany and Master of Natural Resources Management degrees from the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg Manitoba, in his native Canada.

But his academic journey was not without obstacles.

"My first year at school was pretty much a disaster," he explained. "I then began to feel a disconnect between my freshman and sophomore years and increasingly struggled with higher-level courses. I came to realize that I had a great memory, but I couldn't write at a college level, couldn't spell and I had a problem with reading comprehension."

A friend of Hunt's offered a diagnosis that stunned him. A dyslexia sufferer herself, she suggested that he may be suffering from the same disorder. "And, she knew what I should do to mitigate the condition, since you can never truly 'cure' it," he said.

Hunt taught himself phonetics and focused on reading and writing, refusing to allow his condition to hinder his goals. Upon completion of his master's degree, Hunt spent the next 20 years working in various consulting roles that would later serve as inspiration for his doctoral thesis.

When Hunt returned to school, he enrolled in a distance learning doctoral program at Union Institute and University in Cincinnati, Ohio. In completing his doctorate degree he embarked on a teaching career which spanned New Jersey community colleges, Thomas Edison State University and SUNY Manhattan.

"My educational path directly aligns with those of our adult learners and I am very familiar with what it feels like to be an adult who makes the decision to return to school midcareer," he said.

Since he began mentoring at TESU in 1997, Hunt has had his hand in nearly every method of course delivery the University offers. He has mentored online courses in Macroeconomics (ECO-111), Microeconomics (ECO-112) and Ethics and the Business Professional (PHI-384); revised a Federal Income Taxation (ACC-421) TECEP® exam; and mentored that course's online and Guided Study formats. In addition, Hunt has reviewed several PLA portfolios as they relate to economics, ethics and management.

Through his courses, he hopes that students learn to think differently and more critically about real issues, most notably those currently covered in the media. "The association I have with our students as well as their diversity and tenacity are traits that consistently impress and inspire me," he explained. "I don't treat mentoring as a job, but my vocation."

The most rewarding part for Hunt is the contact he has with students and their work. "With mentoring you have no preconception of what a student is capable of. The first assignment arrives and I start to discover who that student is and how they think and write. A whole universe of potential opens up – from helping the student to learn basic writing skills to inspiring the capable writers to hone their critical-thinking skills – and, with all students, to challenge their basic values and understandings."

When Hunt is not mentoring, evaluating or guiding, he and wife Christine are usually on the move. The two are relocating from their current residence in Nova Scotia, Canada, to their second residence in Nevada.

Hunt's family members are scattered from coast to coast from Newark, N.J., to the Arctic, and he and his wife share a blended family of four children and four grandchildren. While Hunt keeps himself occupied with mentoring, woodworking and hosting art shows, he still finds enough time to hone his current craft, woodturning. He is regarded as a professional woodturner and a former professional potter. "I have always been a 'maker of things' and I see no end to that."

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