#i2amru (I, Too, Am Reinhardt) Volume 1 Number 1 | Page 58

Who Says Canadians Can’t be Sweethearts?

By Kadie Mullinax

Mom, wife, daughter, friend,
professor, lover of rocks, and
much, much more—this is Dr.
Judith Irvine. Born in Ontario,
Canada, Irvine is part of the
internationally diverse community of Reinhardt University.
Recently, Dr. Irvine became a
full-time Instructor teaching
Basic English and Composition. She is also involved with
the Student Success Center at
Reinhardt, where she offers
her time to tutor and help students with their writing.
Educationally, Dr. Irvine’s
journey was not as typical as
that of many other college
professors. After graduating high school, she went to
Western Ontario University to
study music. She was the first
of her family to attend a university, which was a rather big
deal because, as she told me,
“In Canada, there is a clear
distinction between the two. If
you are asked where you go to
college and you attend a university, it is taken as an insult.”

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However, Dr. Irvine did not
finish school at Western Ontario but instead got married,
started having kids and stayed
at home.

When her husband’s job required
him to relocate, Irvine and her
family made the transition to
the U.S. First, they lived in the
Washington D.C. area.
Instead of enrolling her kids in
public school, Irvine decided
to homeschool them. “All those
years I had been teaching kids
and had access to educational
materials. I thought, I could do
this, I like this,” Irvine explained.
“But when it’s your own kids,
you have to play good guy/bad
guy.”
It was a challenge to be Mom
while also putting her foot down
as teacher. However, when her
youngest daughter was going
into the fourth grade, Irvine
got cancer and wasn’t sure what
would happen. This halted her
homeschooling days for a time,
but she never stopped believing
that teaching others was something at which she would be
successful.
Once Irvine realized she was
recovering well, and all of her
children were in school or out
living their own lives, it was time
for something new. “I decided I
really wanted to do something
for myself.”

Below: Irvine and a view of the back of the Canadian Parliament Buildings (featuring
the round Gothic Revival P arliamentary Library) taken from the Quebec side of the
river, 2014.

“I decided I really
“I decided I really
wanted to do somewanted to do
something for
thing for myself.”
myself.”

~Dr. ~Judith Irvine
Judith Irvine
(Photos courtesy of Dr. Irvine)
The first venture was to go back
and get her Bachelor’s degree.
Irvine attended Kennesaw State
University, where she obtained
her B.A. in English.
She then went on to earn her
Master’s and Ph.D. at Georgia
State University.
It was at Georgia State that a
friend of hers referred her to
Reinhardt University.

Professional AND Friend
Dr. Irvine is not only a respected professional, but she is also
known for her overwhelming
kindness. I had the privilege of
speaking with her colleague and
friend Dr. Catherine Emanuel,
who got to know Irvine when
she interviewed her for an adjunct position in the English
department. Irvine met the
credentials, but what really stood
out for Dr. Emanuel was Irvine’s
personality.

“Irvine, like my grandmother
would always say, doesn’t do
things halfway,” Emanuel informed me.
Preparation and organization
are just a few of the valuable
qualities Dr. Irvine brings to
the classrooms of RU. But what
about outside of that? How has
her Canadian upbringing made
her into the person she is today?
Finally, what does her Canadian
background bring to the campus
and community of Reinhardt
University?

Canada is close in distance and
has many similarities to the
northern states of America.
Though there is not a vast difference in culture, Dr. Irvine still
has a card that many others don’t
have the ability to play.
“She has a different angle,” Dr.
Emanuel told me. “Irvine offers
perspective, and isn’t that what
going to college is partly about?”
Sure, we are here to study and
take tests and write papers and
meet deadlines. However, Dr.
Emanuel raises an extremely
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