Mr. Glenn Hill discusses the difficulties for minority students at OHIO in the '60s.

ATHENS, Ohio (March 30, 2010) –On March 11, Mr. Glenn Hill and his wife, Dr. Ann Wagner Hill, presented at the winter installment of the Patton Lecture Series. Their presentation, titled “Mentoring, Serving Community and the Importance of Giving,” centered on the theme of giving back.

Mr. Hill began the lecture discussing his time at Ohio University in the 60s. He chose OHIO because it was close to his hometown and there was a close-knit black student population. He also received a large football scholarship to play for the Bobcats.

While his college tenure got off to a rough start, Mr. Hill made connections with other students that have lasted a lifetime.

“The support had to come from each other,” he said.

Since the 60s was a time of ethnic turmoil and racism, Mr. Hill faced discrimination but he persevered and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology. After graduating, Hill did not return to OHIO for several years, but despite the hurdles and negative experiences in the beginning, he maintained a dedication to his alma mater by serving on the advancement board for The Patton College, advocating for scholarships for minorities.

Dr. Hill, who was “full of dreams and excitement” upon entering college, attended OHIO at the same time as Mr. Hill and faced the same challenges and discrimination. Despite the inequalities, however, she was able to succeed and received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science.

Dr. Schwartz explained that the more economic inequality (disparity) and insecurity a community has, the more they are “at-risk” for chronic diseases.

“If you take Appalachian Rural Commission (ARC) individual county poverty rates and you overlap them with prevalence rates of diabetes in this region: the greater the poverty, lower the income, and lower the education levels, [then] the higher the prevalence of obesity and diabetes,” Dr. Schwartz said. “This is a direct reflection of socioeconomic status.”

“I think it gave us a sense of leadership and accomplishment,” Dr. Hill said of her graduating class.

After graduating, Dr. Hill went on to get a master’s in Secondary Education from Youngstown State University and her doctoral degree in Global Education from The Ohio State University. Her first teaching assignment was in Youngstown, and from the start, she was determined to give her students opportunities that they would remember forever.

Immediately, Dr. Hill addressed the stereotypes of minority students and made it her mission to overcome them.

“When many minorities come into your classroom, we often see them as inherently inferior, morally and intellectually. But my goal was to stop that stereotyping of those students. It was to impart in them some kind of self worth…I wanted them to have a foundation that I didn’t have,” she said.

In her first year of teaching, she defied the odds and raised more than $50,000 to take all of her students to Africa to experience the cultures and landmarks they were learning about in class.

Dr. Ann Hill shares her experiences in education with faculty, staff and students.

After that first trip, Dr. Hill continued to take her students across the globe to enhance their learning experiences. Not only did the trips help the students understand the material they were covering in classes, but they also gained a unique cross-cultural insight that many students never get to experience in their hometowns.

To describe her approach to hands-on teaching, Dr. Hill introduced the wrap around model, in which the students are the center of the classroom and the curriculum molded to meet their needs.

“Students must be engaged in real life experiences,” she said.  “If they can see it, if they can touch it, they can believe it, and then they will forge a life of paying it forward.”

Mr. and Dr. Hill are retired and currently reside in Columbus, Ohio, but continue a dedication to giving back to their community and to enhancing the lives of students, as they are the future.

Story by Ashley Showen, photos by Mark Brunton.