Embark on a journey through the corridors of the mind with Neil Gray, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at UT Tyler. He explains how a whole brain education philosophy intertwines logic, creativity and innovation. Gray, initially immersed in the sciences, now champions a diverse array of disciplines, from art to journalism, illustrating how each field complements the other in unexpected ways. Celebrate the growth of the college’s music department and the accreditation of a brand-new social work degree.
LANDESS:
UT Tyler Radio is brought to you by the College of Arts and Sciences at The University of Texas at Tyler. But, what is the College of Arts and Sciences? I’m News Director Mike Landess. To answer that question, UT Tyler Radio Connects with College Dean Dr. Neil Gray. Nearly 20 programs you’re over?
GRAY:
Maybe over 20 programs if you look at all the degrees, but we have 10 departments, some with multiple degrees, including both undergraduate and graduate. So I like to say that we’re the “whole brain college.”
LANDESS:
I like that you’re covering all aspects of it. Your background is in the sciences area of arts and sciences. What’s it like to be responsible for everything from music to literature to criminal justice?
GRAY:
Well, it’s incredible, and as I said a moment ago, we’re the whole brain college. And what I mean by that is you know, there’s this concept that’s been around for a long time of the left brain versus the right brain, right? The left brain being logic and science. You know, analysis in the right brain being creativity and innovation, and I had been a scientist my whole life. I thought only about science, really, when it comes to the academics. The really cool thing about becoming dean is that I get to spend the rest of my career, not only thinking about the sciences, but also and especially the arts, including all the humanities, the liberal arts, the fine and the performing arts. To me, it was a new beginning for me. Learn about what they do, and maybe I become a whole brain person, too, at some point.
GRAY:
But what I’ve realized over time that’s been really cool, you know about my work with all the diverse disciplines we have is that I have learned they’re absolutely more alike than they are different. And so there is some middle ground where that left and right brain meet and creativity and innovation, analysis and logic. You don’t really do anything without all of those things. And so I think one beautiful thing about our college is that you know we have all of those things that seem super different but really are way more alike than most people imagine. So it’s just really been exciting, a tremendous opportunity and an honor to be able to champion, you know, things outside of my normal area, and so I really have enjoyed it.
LANDESS:
Well, perhaps your expertise in chemistry is a metaphor knowing the different elements, blending them appropriately and creating a desired result.
GRAY:
That’s a good way to look at it. You know, I think, you know, I’ve spent my whole life being, you know, I am a chemist, but also in my fun time, even though I really do enjoy chemistry, I’m a musician. Probably not a good one, but I have fun with it. I’m also a painter, so I’ve spent my life thinking about those things as the fun things. You know, that really give me pleasure in life, and so no, I agree, bringing all the things together and trying to make them work. It’s really fun for me to champion the disciplines that are outside my normal area.
LANDESS:
With responsibility for such a diverse academic universe, what have been some of your biggest challenges? The pandemic, of course, but what else?
GRAY:
I think we’re just, we’re really large, and the pandemic certainly is something you know, you say besides the pandemic, but it’s hard to ignore how much that’s changed higher education, I think mostly in good ways, because I think, even though the pandemic itself was bad, it forced us into a situation where we had to learn about new technologies, new ways to do things that I think we would have gotten to eventually anyway. That changes how we teach and meet the learning demands of this new generation. So I think there’s some good things that came out that we were kind of forced to do faster than normal. But other challenges are for me.
GRAY:
You know, I try to be a people person. I’m one of those people who try to make everyone happy, you know.
LANDESS: Good luck with that.
GRAY: Yeah, I know, I know, and I see a lot of that in you too, Mike. And so the biggest challenge for me is trying to always win and knowing that sometimes, you know, you’re not always going to be victorious in every scenario. So it’s been a challenge to understand that on the very large scale of our big college. But it’s just been incredible. I wouldn’t change it for anything.
LANDESS:
There are so many departments to be proud of. Can you share some success stories that come to mind?
GRAY:
Sure, I can give you — well, how long do you have, Mike?
LANDESS: Well, keep going.
GRAY: We’ve got 10 departments over 20 degrees. I could give you success stories in every single one. I’ll give you some recent ones, and ones that kind of relate to this idea that I’m a scientist that is also a champion for the arts.
GRAY:
Our music program has just been incredible. You know, they have doubled their majors in a matter of a year because they have put a lot of effort into actually recruiting and going out to schools and visiting with band directors and students and bands at the local high schools. And they have doubled their majors and then look to double them again this upcoming year. So our music program, which you’ll see everywhere all the time, and I encourage you, if you haven’t listened to some of our ensembles, our jazz band and the like, oh my gosh, go do it.
LANDESS: Yeah, Dr. Sarah Roberts has done such a great job.
GRAY: Yeah, she’s incredible. So I’m really proud of the success that our music program has had.
GRAY:
I could give many other examples. One new area that I’m really proud of within the college is a few years ago, we actually developed a new program in social work. And so recently, just last week, we learned that our social work received its final accreditation from the Council of Social Work Education. And so, they are now nationally accredited program. So we went from zero a few years ago to now this incredible, large and fully accredited program. Very proud of that. To me it’s just another important facet of what we do in a college that puts the universe in the university, and so really proud of that also. And like I said, Mike, I could go every department and start listing off — Every department should be very proud of the things that they are doing, and I know that I certainly am.
LANDESS:
Full disclosure here. You’re my boss. You got the idea of a UT Tyler radio station off the ground, and I got to be a part of its assembly and startup. As we head into 3 years now on the air, there’s been considerable evolution in our mission and in our programming. Some of it’s been growing pains, huh?
GRAY:
Well, yeah, of course, I think we were launched during the pandemic really, where you know, whatever you wanted to be during the pandemic, you had to kind of check that a little bit and think, all right, where do we want to be in the future, and when can we really start that journey? So there was a lot of just survival making sure all the hardware worked and all the software worked.
LANDESS:
We had a blank sheet of paper, essentially. I mean, we didn’t take a radio station that already existed and make it work. We bought a frequency and then took it from there.
GRAY:
That’s right, and so the goal has always been to move forward our mission as an institution, and that this would be one way that we could do it.
GRAY:
So for me, it’s always about education. You know, how can we use KVUT to educate? To celebrate the fine arts? Hopefully, I’ve already established I’m a big champion of the arts, and so how do we actually celebrate and show the importance of the fine and the performing arts, especially in the audio sense, the performing arts, right? So we love the idea of jazz because it’s a lot of what we do. So growing pains, because it’s a big effort, and where you want to be is not necessarily where you are at the very beginning. You have to walk that road, and thanks to you and your colleagues here within the radio station, we are just doing a really good job of moving things forward, toward that final mission of being kind of this fine arts educational radio, where I hope that we can give a voice to our — we have more experts. We have an expert on everything, just about on the campus, right?
GRAY:
Yeah, so we have a little bit of a hostage group of experts that we can take advantage of.
LANDESS:
I was thinking of it as “bench strength.”
GRAY:
There you go, we have a deep bench.
LANDESS:
We have a deep bench.
GRAY:
So if we want to talk about history, we certainly have people who can come in and talk about history. If we want to talk about medicine or thing — and that’s what’s really cool about a university having this kind of access is that we are able to bring the knowledge and experience of our faculty to bear, but not only that, so giving them a voice, right, to be able to share things that people are interested in, and by the way, it doesn’t always have to be super, like, dry knowledgeable things.
LANDESS:
They’re relevant. That’s the thing I’ve enjoyed about talking to people here on campus. They are able to take what they do on a daily basis and make it relevant to right now, which is really how you communicate with students, anyway.
GRAY:
Yeah, relevant, and sometimes just cool and fun. For example, you know, if you have a novelist, and we do, they can come in and talk about creative writing and things. Who doesn’t want to be a novelist if they’ve read in their life? Everyone wants to be a writer, right?
LANDESS:
Tara Propper actually talked about how you get published. She says first you have to grow a thick skin.
GRAY:
That’s right. An amazing poet, by the way. And another very good author, a novelist, Glenn Blake on the faculty. That’s just an incredible writer.
LANDESS:
Yeah, Ann Beebe has really got into podcasting and is doing a great service in terms of letting people know “what does an English literature degree mean?” It means that you got a better chance of getting a really good job because you’re ready.
GRAY:
That’s right. And if you haven’t listened to her stuff, I encourage you to go do that. It’s just incredible. So my hope always with the radio station is that we provide informative and beautiful things for our community, and we also give the opportunity for our community to have a voice. The whole idea was always to benefit East Texas. And how do we give our experts a voice? How do we give members of the community a voice to talk about things that are educational and interesting but also fun? And those things take time, right? So you don’t just throw a radio station together overnight. And as a chemist, I learned that pretty quick, and that’s been fun but you, because there is a kind of technical side to it. It takes some time. But then there is the content side.
LANDESS:
I think that with a lot of brand new ventures, you find that you find out pretty quickly what you didn’t know. You didn’t know.
GRAY:
Yeah, that is true. And going back to one of your previous questions about what are some of the things I’m most excited about, you know, in our college that we work with is certainly KVUT is at the top of that. It’s something that I’m very proud of. I’m very proud of you guys and what you are doing, and it’s just one of those things that I feel like, hey, I can just step back and let it happen. And if you need something, you know I’ll go get you that something.
LANDESS:
You know this is being recorded. We’re going to play this back for you.
GRAY:
I know that’s right.
LANDESS:
You have any final thoughts you’d like to share?
GRAY:
I would end with saying I really love this place. I do, and I think it’s a great institution. We are now at the precipice of what we’re going to be moving forward, because I feel like every 5 years, we move forward in a big way you know. I’ve been here almost 30 years on the faculty. Then I was here as a student, too, so I have seen UT Tyler pretty much its whole life, and I have seen so many changes, and every change has been very positive and moving in a good direction. And I feel like that is continuing right now in a very accelerated way.
LANDESS:
Thanks for listening as UT Tyler Radio Connects with Arts and Sciences College Dean Dr. Neil Gray. For UT Tyler Radio News, I’m Mike Landess.
(Transcripts are automatically generated and may contain phonetic spellings and other spelling and punctuation errors. Grammar errors contained in the original recording are not typically corrected.)
