Faculty Profiles
Wade Fisher, Professor, Media Studies
Wade Fisher was born at Ft. Ord, California, and spent his early years moving around to various military bases before finally settling in the Tacoma area. His father made his career in the army. Fisher graduated from high school at Clover Park and enrolled at Pierce Community College, where he was student body president. He moved on to the University of Washington, where he earned a BA in communications. Later, Fisher would receive an MBA from City University.
Fisher entered the commercial broadcast field as a part-time personality at KGHO in Aberdeen, and soon found fulltime employment at nearby KBKW, also in that Grays Harbor city. He also spent ten years working in radio in the Seattle Market at stations KBSG, KLSY, KRPM and KHIT. "I really had set out to spend my working life in radio broadcasting," Fisher reported, "but just a few years after I started, the industry changed." He cited examples of large corporate takeovers of small, independent radio outlets that created uncertainty and mass turnovers of personnel at many broadcast operations. "I had really appreciated the community-service character of most stations in the early days," he admitted, "and the new, tightly formatted station operations kind of took the fun out of it."
Fisher left commercial broadcasting and went back to Bates Tech, this time as an instructor. He enjoyed working there and adding his own elements to the program to provide the combination of practical and theoretical teaching he had earlier envisioned. He also served as the operations director of the schools NPR affiliate. "I finally heard of an opening here at Centralia College, and I applied for it," he said. "I was hired in 1991, and it was even better than I had anticipated. The administration said they hired me because I knew what I was doing and let me design the curriculum for the radio-TV program." Fisher was finally able to incorporate all the practical pieces he found missing from similar programs elsewhere. "The best part of teaching at Centralia College," Fisher said, "is that we can bring both radio and television techniques into the classroom and the studio. It's the kind of diversity that can only be found when strong theory and up-to-date practical instruction are included in our coursework."
Fisher received an "Exceptional Faculty" award in 1998. When he's not in the classroom or studio, Fisher enjoys sports, music, and painting. "I like playing guitar," he smiled, "and sometimes the students and I get together and write a few songs we can play on the college station." His painting is mostly watercolor of animals and landscapes. "I do a few pieces that have people in them, but I don't do portraits." Fisher and his wife also enjoy a "house full" of pets.
Brian Tyrrell, Drama Instructor
Brian Tyrrell got his BA at Washington State and earned his MA and MFA from Purdue University before setting out on a career on the stage. For the next seven years Tyrrell earned a living as a Shakespearean actor, first with the touring company of the National Shakespeare Co.; then at the Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon; at the Montgomery Shakespeare Festival in Alabama; and finally doing Shakespeare in Chicago.
At the end of a year in Chicago, Tyrrell's family had grown from two to four, and he decided he needed to find something more dependable. Returning to the northwest, he accepted a position at Tumwater High School teaching drama. It was there that he learned of a staff opening in the theatre department at Centralia College. He joined the faculty in 1991 and began developing the theatre department in the old Corbet Theatre. "It was a small space and didn't have a lot of technical assets," he admitted. "But you play the hand you are dealt, and the old Corbet was a comfortable hand. We had to produce according to the size of the house, and we relied on performance standards rather than technical support."
Tyrrell believes the new Corbet Theatre will give students and the community a great range of learning and entertainment. "The new theatre has all the bells and whistles," he said, "and we are expecting more--holding ourselves to a higher standard." He said the program has about the same kind of schedule as in the past, including a musical, a comedy, and some dramatic pieces, but he expects them to be better in the new Corbet Theatre. For example, an audition for the musical, "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum," brought out 58 hopefuls. "Half of those were new to Donna (Dr. Donna Huffman) and me," Tyrrell noted. "We padded the cast by 11 because of the quality of singers and dancers that showed up." He contends that such a turnout from the student body and the community is one way to build the theatre program at the college.
Tyrrell said the transition from the old theatre to the new Corbet facility is much more than just a superior physical plant. "When I first came here," he smiled, "I was naïve enough to think maybe Centralia College was just a stopping-off point for me. But the longer I stayed the more I saw how great I had it on this small campus, especially compared with my colleagues in much larger departments." Tyrrell believes the turning point in his career--and in the performance arts programs at Centralia College--came when the old theatre was condemned. "As the new facility was being planned," he explained, "we would find out just how important the theatre, music, radio-TV, and journalism programs were to the college. When the administration came to Wade (Fisher), T. R. (Gratz), Donna Huffman, and me for our input we felt our work had really been validated. The new facility met or exceeded our fondest dreams."
Tyrrell took a one-quarter sabbatical to do some further study at the University of Washington. He said there were some very special faculty there, and he wanted to work with them and bring back new ideas to the Centralia College program. He then joined his colleague Bryan Willis to found and guide the Northwest Playwright's Alliance. Based out of Olympia but presenting all around Southwest Washington, the Alliance is bringing fresh ideas and exceptional performances to audiences eager for new stage experiences.
When not teaching, Tyrrell spends most of his time with his kids. "My life is pretty much centered around my family," he admitted. "One is in college and the other will be soon, and I want to spend as much time with them now as possible. On the other hand," he laughed, "I'll have a chance to get to know my wife again."
Ron Hall, Business Instructor
Business instructor Ron Hall is a native of Southwest Washington who brings a rich experience to his business classes. His family moved from Longview to Centralia in the late 1950s when Hall's father built a small pharmacy on South Tower. The store would eventually become Hall's Drug Centers, the most enduring independent pharmacy in the area.
After two years at CC, Hall transferred to the University of Washington to earn his degree in accounting and business. After college, Hall moved to the Tacoma area and enthusiastically entered the business community. There was some temporary radio fill-in work, but Hall soon expanded into several businesses. "Some I owned," he recalled, "and some I worked for, but they all were interesting and rewarding." He was an accounting manager at First Manufacturing, Shepard Ambulance, and other firms, while starting a ski shop, entering the cellular phone industry, and consulting in the realty and securities fields.
Hall moved his family back to Centralia to pursue business interests here, and soon joined the Centralia College family as an adjunct instructor. "I liked the idea of sharing my business experience with students," he explained. "Business is so complex and varied that I think students need to learn from a lot of diverse sources. Besides," he smiled, "the students always keep you on your toes. They're pretty smart."
Hall enjoys the working with the faculty and believes teaching is his most rewarding experience yet. "The college is a great asset to the community," he said. "This has been a long-delayed homecoming for me, but I'm happy to be back." He presently teaches accounting and many of the core business classes. When he isn't teaching, Hall enjoys golf, cycling, and playing woodwinds, piano, and guitar. Incidentally, you might hear him fill in occasionally on a local radio station. What else might you have expected?
Jack Bishop receives 2007 Exceptional Faculty Award
The 2007 Exceptional Faculty award recipient is Jack Bishop, a 32-year veteran of Centralia College assigned to the Garrett Heyns Education Center at the Washington Corrections Center at Shelton. His tenure has been marked by innovation, enormous success with student inmates, and a firm belief in the principles set forth by Garrett Heyns, a pioneer in prison education.
Beginning his career at Garrett Heyns Educational Center as a counselor, Bishop soon became part of the faculty team that conducted many of the education programs at the center. "For about 20 years I had the privilege of helping thousands of students earn high school diplomas, vocational certificates, and two-year associate degrees," Bishop said. "Knowing that these folks did well in the community and had the lowest recidivism rates is a treasured part of my career." Recidivism is relapse into criminal behavior and the low recidivism rate of those who have taken advantage of educational offerings has been a measure of the Centralia College program.
In 1995 Bishop began teaching the Victim Awareness Education Program. "This is an intense class," he explained, "that has helped offenders begin to understand the impacts their crimes had on victims." Bishop said his most rewarding work at the center was breaking through the resistance and seeing some of the insights that students would develop. Bishop helped develop and write a statewide curriculum for the program so that other institutions may benefit from the singular success the Victim Awareness initiative has enjoyed at the Washington Corrections Center. Early in the program, Bishop observed, "Student self-evaluations consistently indicate this is a pivotal learning experience in the inmate's efforts toward personal change."
Bishop has devoted much of his energy for the past few years to developing and teaching courses in career planning and goal-setting. "The goal is to encourage offenders to make the most of the opportunities for training available to them during their time here, and thus be prepared for their return to the community."
Bishop will retire from the faculty at the end of June and is looking forward to continued activity. "Susan (his wife) and I plan to do some traveling," he noted. "Hawaii is in our summer plans, and we expect to spend more time with our three children and four grandchildren." His schedule, however, appears to remain busy. "I have begun, and plan to continue, part-time work as the administrator for the Olympia Christian Reformed Church," he said, then smiled, "It's an opportunity to transition from one passion to another, you might say." Bishop also enjoys hiking and camping, working on cars, volunteering with the Thurston County Furniture Bank, and reading.
For more than 32 years Jack Bishop has helped keep the original Garrett Heyns concept--that education is the key function of an effective corrections system--operating smoothly. In those years Bishop has substantially aided literally thousands of his students to return to a positive place in society. His energy and innovation have helped keep the Garrett Heyns Education Center a national model of achievement.