Emory University professor says President Carter left lasting impression on students
While Jimmy Carter would often lead lectures on campus, his Carter Town Halls became a fast favorite among freshmen.
ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - Former President Jimmy Carter may best be known for his time in the White House, but on the campus of Emory University he’s known by students as Professor Carter.
“I think President Carter will be remembered as one of the great Americans late 20th and early 21st-century,” said Joseph Crespino, Jimmy Carter Professor of History, Emory University.
The former one-term Democratic president joined Emory’s faculty in 1982, spent more than four decades as a University Distinguished Professor. Up until a few years ago, he would visit campus every semester. Joseph Crespino taught a class for several years focused on the Carter presidency.
“Students would do research, and President Carter’s presidential papers at the Carter library. And then the last class of the semester President Carter would come and discuss with the students their research,” said Crespino.
Back in 2019, at the age of 94, and 37 years into his time at Emory, the 39th president of the United States was granted tenure in four schools: Emory College of Arts and Sciences, Oxford College, Candler School of Theology, and Rollins School of Public Health.
While Carter would often lead lectures on campus, his Carter Town Halls became a fast favorite among freshmen.
“He would come in and tell the students what he was doing and give them kind of advice and their careers here at Emory. Students would then be able to ask him questions. It was always the highlight of the academic year here at Emory,” said Crespino.
Some of the advice Carter would offer to students, don’t be afraid of failure. Crespino pointed out that the former president rose to the highest level of American politics only to experience defeat, but he didn’t let that failure stop him from finding other ways to help people around the world for many more years to come.
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