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Cumberland University Alumni Association
Tell us your favorite story from your time at CU. Let us know about your history here. It can be about a favorite professor or class, or something you learned here. Anything, you name it. Just visit this link to fill out the form about you history at CU: My History At CU
We will post everyone's response soon!
Remembering Dr. Jim Dressler:
I had Dr. Dressler as one of my profs while in attendance at CU. He was one of the great ones. When I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, he was always one of the most accomodatiing professors that went above and beyond in his duties when it came to helping me. The future students of CU are going to miss out on his great lectures and just getting to know him as a person.
Please know that I will never forget him. For he has left his mark on my heart. Dr. Dressler and his family will be in mine and my husband's thoughts and prayers.
Bulldog Pride,
Amanda Deason Riddle
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While I was never one of Dr. Dressler's students, I am aware of his influence over some of my classmates as to the career choices they successfully made. I'm thinking he was the last remaining of the teachers who served Cumberland during my two years there (class of '74). He's a link to the glorious past of Cumberland's time as a 2-year school (which I sometimes get the impression has been forgotten in this day and time) and will be missed by all those from the days of GO BIG RED! I extend my condolences to his family and the CU community as well in their loss.
Wayne Jenkins '74
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Back in the 80's I had failed a history class at MTSU. I came home to Lebanon that summer and took Dr. Dressler's history class. Everyone told me how hard he was and that I would fail. He was such a good teacher and made history so interesting that I made an A in that class. Which for me was very unusual.
Just goes to show you if you have a good teacher you can do anything.
Delaine Freeman Smith
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Dr. Dressler,It took me nearly 10 years and 2 universities to complete my Bachelors degree. In a few months I will complete a MBA program. I work on the staff of Waynesburg University in Pennsylvania. I routinely hear our professor’s lectures and witness how they interact with their students. I have often told stories of how my favorite teacher would come in to class each a day with a small folder and take roll. You would then set it aside, lean on the desk, cross your arms and say “where were we� Teaching with no notes, the next hour would be filled with vivid and fascinating images of events that most of us had thought boring before entering your class. Your gift for making the subject come alive is remarkable. Thank you for giving me a love and understanding of history that I still enjoy.
James DePriest
BA – Criminal Justice, Cumberland University 1999
MBA – Waynesburg University, 2009
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Dr. Dressler was wonderful. I graduated from Cumberland in 1989. I guess you've heard about the time that he went after the pigeons in the tower with his gun. He came back wearing a sling.
He had a great gift for making history fun and interesting because of his ability to speak well in public.
Never, never, though should you fall asleep in his class. I still remember when one person made that mistake ...
He was tricky though when it came to tests. Captions on pictures in the textbook were not off-limits.
Kim
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I had Dr. Dressler my first semester at CU for Western Civ. and everyone told me how hard he was and pretty much had me scared to death before the first class. I remember on the first day of class, he made his class rules very clear: 2 of importance were not to wear hats and do not be late! One day a guy wore his cap into class and after a few dirty looks from Dr. Dressler that went un-noticed, Dr. Dressler very calmly walked over to him, removed the cap from his head and proceeded to toss it out the open window onto the lawn. Believe me, no one ever wore a cap in that class again. Class was at 8 in the morning and I am not much of a morning person so it was inevitable that I would one day be late. I made it to end of the hall as he shut the door and I dared not open it. I sat in the hallway and took notes
and when class was over he spotted me there in the floor. He told me he appreciated my respect for his rules and told me that he believed I would do well in his class. I managed to take at least 6 classes that he taught throughout my 4 years at CU and I loved every one. Throughout those 6
semesters Dr. Dressler managed to make learning history fun and I added history as my minor. Dr. Dressler will be greatly missed and I am grateful that I had the opportunity to know him and learn from him.
Tonya Keith
Class of 2002
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My favorite memory of Dr. Dressler was in 2001 when I had taken a summer civil war battlefield analysis course. Dr. Dressler spent four weeks of the summer driving us around various battlefields in TN and GA.
We went to Shiloh that year, and it was my first trip. I am so glad that I was able to take that first trip with Dr. Dressler. He helped me build a love of exploring these battlefields that I do not think I would have discovered; had I not learned first hand from Dr. Dressler who was an excellent teacher. He made the battlefield come alive with his vivid details in his stories. I remember wanting to become a teacher just like him and make history come alive for my students as well.
Dr. Dressler had the respect of his students, colleagues, and friends. He was a wonderful man and the world was made a better place by his presence.
We will miss you, Dr. Dressler.
Shanna David
Class of 2002 (B.S.)
Class of 2006 (M.A.E)
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I had Dr. Dressler my final two semesters at Cumberland and I never learned more about History and myself during those semesters. He made you work for everything you received in his class. Dr. Dressler would make you want to learn more about History, not for class, but because you wanted to do so. He was a great man that will be greatly missed.
Brandon Eldridge
BA Criminal Justice '08
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My heart is broken. I learned about Jim's passing maybe 10 minutes ago. Jim Dressler's influence drives me even to this day to be involved in the political process. His insistence on questioning everything greatly developed this 17 year old girl in 1975. Cumberland has lost a special man; however with stewardship she will not loose the legacy of excellence to which he adhered. My prayers are with all those who celebrate his life and mourn his passing.
Jessica Woodard Brown
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I came to CU in 1998 in my late 20's with many credits but no degree. I had decided to pursue a major in English with a minor in secondary education with the hopes of becoming a high school English teacher. Since I had never had a great love for history, I had no credits in that area and thus enrolled in Dr. Dresslers class. On the first day he shut the door exactly at 8:00 and began to go over his syllabus. The gist was this: If you are late, dont come. If you have to leave early, don't come. If you can't be there on a test day, don't call. The only acceptable excuse for missing an exam is death and you can't call then anyway. No cell phones, no food, no hats. After that he said "Let's begin" and we wrote for the next hour and a half straight. When I listened to his lectures about Frederick the Great and the Bourbon Kings I discovered that I actually liked history-these were real people with compelling stories, not lifeless names in a dusty text book. I changed my major to history and spent the next 6 semesters in Dr. Dresslers classes. He was such a character and I have so many amusing memories of him. Once a cell phone rang during class and to all of our astonishment the young lady not only answered the phone but carried on a conversation for several minutes. When she hung up and placed it on her desk Dr. Dressler (face bright red) calmly walked over to her desk and pitched it out the third floor window. (I never saw her again). Another time a classmate was complaining that we had way too many notes and that she couldn't possible memorize all of that information. She asked him if he could simplify matters by telling her exactly what she needed to write down because she was only concerned with what was going to be on the test. He stared at her for a long while, coffee cup in hand, with that look he gave when he peered just over the top of his glasses. When she asked him again "What do I write?" he finally answered her: "My every utterance." He was a stickler for spelling too (a great irony since he was a terrible speller). Sometimes we could get him off track and he'd tell us stories about his hunting adventures, his childhood or his beloved grandson. His plan was to retire to Ono Island someday. He always had a funny sort of rivalry with Monty Pope and he loved to tease him by saying if Andrew Jackson were alive today, he'd be a Republican. He told us once that he'd considered being an attorney but changed his mind. He also told us he'd dropped out of school at one point and worked at a factory. It only took a few months of that to convince him that he wanted to return to school. There was a big difference he said between living and existing. I never forgot that. I became a history teacher after I left CU. When I passed my history praxis exam on the first try, I sent Dr. Dressler a thank you note. When I was awarded a fellowship at the University of Virginia in 2003, I sent him another. When I was named a James Madison Fellow in 2006 I did the same. I came back to visit him from time to time and he always asked me a lot of questions about teaching in a large urban school. In December I will complete my MA in history and in August of 2009 I will finish my second masters in administration and supervision. None of this would have been possible without him. Dr. Jim Dressler truly taught me everything I know about history and I am forever in his debt.
Mary '00
