Professor Randoms

By Janine Stevens
Collegian Staff
March 21, 2007

What is your name and what classes do you teach? Mike Gillespie Jr. teaches COM337: Advertising Copywriting.

What is your hometown? He is originally from Philadelphia.

At what moment did you know what career you wanted to pursue? In grade school, Gillespie thought he wanted to be a teacher. “I did spend six years teaching high school,” he said. “While I was teaching, I realized that I needed to get involved with the family business, and so I moved into advertising when the opportunity presented itself.”

What was one of your greatest accomplishments? Gillespie prides himself on being the father of two great kids, Madeline, five, and Abigail, 18 months.

How do you think you are known among students? He likes to believe his students think of him as “informed and interesting. Fun, maybe even funny.”

If you could teach students just one thing, what would it be? Gillespie wants to teach students to be honest and ethical.

If you could travel anywhere, where would you go? Gillespie thinks it would be interesting to see Egypt, since he taught history for six years. “The pyramids and the entire Nile River civilization are so fascinating,” he said.

If you could have any super power, what would it be? Because getting from point A to point B faster is important, Gillespie wishes he could fly.

How do you keep your students interested? “I try to keep them interested by being organized for class,” he said. “And by being energetic and mixing in some humor and personal stories with the content.”

What would surprise people to know about you? Although he enjoys playing classic rock while his class takes weekly quizzes, Gillespie has a lot of hip-hop music on his iPod.

stevensj1@lasalle.edu