The Article below was published in Vol. 135, Issue 3 of the Lake Forest College Stentor on November 8, 2019
By Ellerese Topacio ’20
Associate Editor
Thirty-five years of unconditional student advocacy, four-time recipient of the highly-acclaimed Great Teacher Award, two books published on economic border studies and child labor, and one woman who transcended the expectations and standards of her tenure at Lake Forest College.
This is Professor Carolyn Tuttle. Set to retire at the end of the 2019-2020 academic year, Tuttle has overflowed the College with a stellar degree of personal and professional rarity bred from compassion, strength, and intelligence.
Starting her work at the College in 1984, Tuttle’s tenacious spirit broke down all gender stereotypes by having been the only woman in the economics department for a long while. For most of her educational training, Tuttle’s status as a woman categorized her as a minority. She was only one out of a very minuscule batch of women to earn a PhD from Northwestern University at the time.
Those who have taken an economics course with Professor Tuttle are well aware of her teaching philosophy: Make it fun. She teaches her students in a pedagogical fashion that she wishes she could have been taught in.
Tuttle has always respected the intimacy of small liberal arts colleges, where, unlike at large universities, professors know their students by name. Professor Tuttle remembers her students’ names because she cares about each and every one of them. But helping students succeed was not confined within the walls of Young Hall; she cares just as much about her students’ management of class material as she does about their weekends, extracurriculars, and well-being.
Tuttle made it her mission to make learning interactive, engaging, and, most importantly, fun. She set up her classroom to be a place for students to succeed, not a place that induces stress and ultimate failure. As a testament to her goal to maximize student success, she made herself available and accessible six days of the week, reserving at least one full day to devote undivided attention to her family. She respects the fact that if you work hard, you can play hard.
Naturally, Professor Tuttle’s educational impact extended beyond the boundaries of the classroom. Her compassion, humanity, and unconditional advocacy for the students of Lake Forest College rendered her to be an irreplaceable figure. Her passion for border studies fuels her fight for immigration advocacy. Additionally, diversity is a powerful aspect of her life. Due to her unique insight, Tuttle has been involved in countless committees. Lake Forest College was her stronghold. Her fervent adoration to Lake Forest College seeped into the decorum of her home. According to Tuttle, a visitor will observe a sea of red and black pride throughout her house. Now that’s what I call an authentic fan. While serving on a Lake Forest College hiring committee, she has personally selected most of the economics, business, and finance professors you all know and love today: Professors Lemke, Sundberg, Felkey, and more. One piece of advice she would give to the next instructor is to be passionate about teaching because she believes passion is what makes the difference in education.
Once she embarks on her well-earned retirement, Professor Tuttle will substitute economic textbooks for golf clubs, sleek stilettos for flip flops, and lectures at Young Hall for pure tranquility on the tropical beaches of the sunny South. Professor Tuttle’s agenda will consist of enough time for her to devote to herself, but her idea of devotion lies within her family. She plans to take care of her 97-year-old father as well as celebrate life with her wife, Dorothy, and her adult son. I played a hypothetical game with Professor Tuttle where I asked how she would spend the money if she were to win the lottery. Tuttle responded that she would 1) donate some to the College to fund the construction of Brown Hall (anyone on board for Tuttle Tower?), 2) assist her son with his home, and 3) whisk her wife Dorothy away on a trip to Greece.
Professor Tuttle was a professor, mentor, advisor, presenter, sponsor, and author. In the realm of academia, she is a bonafide Renaissance woman scholar. Now although I utilize the past tense “was” to describe her various roles, we all know that she will continue to impact the community in an abundance of ways. She does not plan to stop enjoying her life with the people she cares most about. Many have tried to convince her that she did not deserve to be where she is now, but she proved them wrong. After flirting with the idea of retirement for a while, what incentivized her to stay behind was us, the students! Whether she’s cheerleading for the Forester athletes or keeping her office door open to answer the simplest macroeconomics question, Professor Tuttle was there. Student advocacy is the legacy she would like to leave behind. From everyone here at Lake Forest College, thank you Professor Tuttle. (Now, cue Katy Perry’s “Fireworks”!)
