5/17/2021 Ten Years with JToddBy Emily Yang This year marks the 10th year of Todd Roberts’s time as Chancellor here at NCSSM, so in February, I sat down to chat with the Chancellor to ask him questions ranging from the past and future of NCSSM to favorite eats from the PFM is–sourced straight from the NCSSM Polls page.
A lot has changed at NCSSM since Roberts first became Chancellor. In the past ten years, the Durham campus has seen renovations to the school’s science labs and physics floor, as well as the addition of the FabLab. With the recent record donation of $7.5 million, more renovations are on the way, with revamped dorms and dining areas, as well as the addition of an academic commons area. “When you come back for your five-year reunion, hopefully all those spaces will be brand new,” Roberts says. “There has been change, and there will be even more change.” Over the past ten years, Roberts says he’s proudest of “being able to expand access and opportunity to more students across North Carolina” through growing the opportunities for mentorship and research in the residential and online programs, increasing enrollment in the online open enrollment programs and the new Morganton campus. “Having been a teacher, a principal and a school superintendent, this was in some ways the best of all those worlds,” he says of his position. “Over my career, the part about my job I’ve loved best was being on a school campus. [NCSSM] is also a statewide institution, and so the impact of it [goes beyond] just the one community in Durham.” Meeting students is also a highlight: Roberts speaks of his amazement at how “accomplished, hardworking, and, in general, kind” the students on campus are. Prior to NCSSM, Roberts hadn’t worked in a residential environment, and he says that being around 680 students who try to do the best for themselves, for each other and for the larger community has had a “really positive impact” on him. “There’s been individual students that I’ve had the opportunity to meet, get to know, learn about their stories, and see what they’re doing after they’ve left NCSSM,” he says. “[I’ve] been really amazed and proud of what many of our alumni go on to do, even in a short period of six, seven, eight years after they graduate from high school.” It’s no wonder, then, that Roberts’s favorite spot on campus is in the center of the bustle: on Hill Street, where he can interact with students in a casual setting. This year, Roberts has been a frequent visitor of SG Mental Health Committee’s Weekly Wellness Wednesdays, stopping to chat with students on the sidewalk and benches. If you’ve ever wondered what the J in JTodd stands for, you can rest assured knowing that it stands for James. When asked what the J would stand for–if it could stand for anything else–Chancellor Roberts replied that he wouldn’t change it, because the name is after his late grandfather, and whenever Roberts signs his name, he thinks back to him. “It’s a good thought,” he says, “so I don’t think I would change it.” On the note of names, when asked how students started calling him “JTodd” to begin with, the Chancellor responded that he didn’t know. He assumes that somebody started calling him the nickname from his signature–the J. Todd signed onto the Chancellor’s documents and letters–and the name has just stuck ever since. “It’s amazing how many things pass down from class to class, when you guys are only here together for a year,” he says of the moniker. “But there’s so many traditions that end up being passed down, and that one’s made it over a number of classes.” The nickname doesn’t seem to bother the Chancellor, nor does another student tradition: the phenomenon of JTodd sightings. A Facebook group founded in February 2016, dedicated to documenting sightings of the Chancellor in and outside of NCSSM, JTodd Sightings is still going strong today. When asked about the phenomenon, Roberts recalls a particularly memorable JTodd sighting with a laugh: a photo of him at Target with an armful of candy. “I was like, Wow!” he says, “because nobody came up and said anything to me, but I saw a photo. It makes me think ‘you never know where your photo’s going to be taken’.” One place you might make a JTodd sighting is the PFM at lunch on Wednesday; Roberts’s favorite food from the PFM is the collard greens and mac & cheese signature to Wednesdays at NCSSM. Step a couple years back in time and you also might’ve spotted Roberts at his favorite place to eat on Ninth Street, Chubby’s Tacos. Unfortunately, the Chubby’s on Ninth Street closed due to bankruptcy several years ago, and its old location is now home to the restaurant Mi Calvillo. Nowadays, you’ll be most likely to find Roberts eating at Alpaca or Happy + Hale. If he could take any NCSSM class, Roberts says he would want to take either Classical Myth (as a former English major and teacher) or one of the robotics classes, as he never had the opportunity to do that as a student. “I think it’d be really cool to get in there and learn how to do some of the things they do, and build some of the things they build, and maybe to get in there and learn how to use some of the tools in the Fabrication Lab,” he says. “That would be a total growth experience for me.” When asked what he thinks NCSSM could improve upon, Roberts said focusing in on diversity, equity, and inclusion, as well as mental health and wellness. “I think we can always continue to improve on making sure that our campus community is as supportive as possible for all students and all employees,” he says. “You’ve always got to continue trying to work on that–understanding where we aren’t doing things as best we can do, and then working to try to improve.” The biggest lesson Dr. Roberts has learned in the past ten years is to “continually assess where you are, and then understand and have a plan for how you can continue to improve,” as an institution and as an individual. As a final note on this reflection of the past ten years with JTodd, Roberts leaves off with this: “I feel really fortunate to have the opportunity to work at Science and Math and meet so many wonderful people–those folks who work here as well as the students. I’m grateful, thankful, and appreciative for having had the opportunity to work at NCSSM and be a part of the team for a decade. It’s hard to believe, but when I look back on it, I wouldn’t trade any of it.” Comments are closed.
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