The Campus Chronicle
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The Campus Chronicle, an online newspaper
for University of West Georgia faculty and staff, is the official
source for UWG news and information for all members of the campus community.

I Am West Georgia

Tim Chowns

Tim ChownsYears at UWG:  35.

My job title: Professor of Geology.

What I really do: Help people get off on rocks.

Birthplace: London, England.

Family: Wife, Barbara; three daughters; two 1/2 grandkids.

People describe me as: You’ll have to check the bathroom walls for this one.

My favorite things to do: Hiking in the mountains or along the shore.

My proudest accomplishment:Discovered and published the origin of geodes.

My passion: Science and puzzles (they’re related you know).

My pet peeve: People that cheat.

Before UWG, I: Taught at UGA.

I joined UWG because: The emphasis on undergraduate education and the gung-ho geology program.

I stay because: West Georgia has the best geology program in the state. Perhaps I’m biased!

One thing I would change about UWG: It would be nice to go back to smaller class sizes so that one could interact more directly with students as individuals.

The best advice I ever received: Choose a career that turns you on. That way work is exciting and fun.

The best advice I’d give to new faculty and staff: Always grab an opportunity when it is offered. The more you accomplish in life the greater the satisfaction.

When I was a child, I wanted to be: An explorer in the Amazon.

Most people don't know that: In 1983 I left West Georgia for a job in the oil business. The job, in Oklahoma, lasted minus two days. I was fortunate to be rehired by West Georgia.

My favorite quotation: Quotations aren’t the kinds of things I remember!

The book I think everyone should read: After more than thirty years my favorite novel is still "John Fowles; The French Lieutenant’s Woman." If anyone is still in doubt about Climate change they should read “The Weather Makers” by Tim Flannery.

The movie I think everyone should watch: Lawrence of Arabia. I thought everything about it was fantastic: the desert, the music, O’Toole. (Barbara hates it!)

My favorite memory: Sunset on the Colorado River at the bottom of the Grand Canyon.

The person (alive or dead) I’d most like to meet: Charles Darwin. On his first expedition, when not much older than our undergraduates, he was able to observe and understand what everyone else up to that time had missed; evolution by natural selection, the foundation of modern biology and medicine.

What I would most like to have if castaway on an island: A sediment coring device!

What I would do if I won the lottery: Buy a flume for the new geosciences building so that students could experiment on the effects of currents flowing over sand. If there was any money left over I’d take Barbara on a cruise to Alaska.

What I most want to contribute to students: Curiosity and enthusiasm.

Although you didn’t ask, I’d like to tell you anyway: If you haven’t already figured it out, I love my job and West Georgia. I count myself very fortunate to have landed the job I always dreamed of.

 

 
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