Employee Profile

Name: Gay Lyons

Title: Professor

Major responsibilities: Teaching English and political science

Length of service at the College: 23 years

Place of birth: Newport, Tennessee

Family members: husband Bill, daughter Liz

Something no one knows about you: Only a few people know my real name. And I’m not about to reveal it here!

Greatest achievement or proudest moment: Earning the Ph.D. in political science—it took nine years, taking one class at a time, taking comps and researching and writing a dissertation during the summers.

Favorite things outside work: Good books, good food, and travel—the ideal thing is to combine all three.

Most rewarding part of your job: It’s the same as when I started: helping a student “get it.” It doesn’t matter what “it” is—understanding a point of grammar, a poem or the U.S. Constitution. The moment is the same.

Greatest unfulfilled ambition: To spend at least a year living in another country.

Favorite quote: "Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm."—Ralph Waldo Emerson