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Alumni Spotlight: Dr. Clair Berube, Class of 1983
The associate professor of education returned to her alma mater to teach in 2020
University News | April 17, 2024
VWU Associate Professor of Education Dr. Clair Berube returned to her alma mater to teach in 2020, 37 years after she had graduated from Virginia Wesleyan as a psychology major. She continued her education, earning her master’s and doctorate degrees in urban studies and education from Old Dominion University. Berube has also served as an assistant professor of education at Wagner College in New York City and as an associate professor of education at Hampton University.
We caught up with her to ask about her time as a student at Virginia Wesleyan.
How did your time at Virginia Wesleyan most impact your success?
The experience gave me leadership skills. I was chosen as the captain of the softball team in my senior year: this was a great honor and I took the role seriously. The professors were top quality and pushed me to higher levels of thinking. We were very independent young people at that time, and we were serious and self-motivated. It was wonderful being around an environment where everyone was striving to do their best. My cohort was also very persistent toward meeting goals. This impacted every job I’ve had since.
Best memories of your time at Virginia Wesleyan as a student?
I have so many fond memories. Being a member of the first varsity softball team at the college was my best memory. My freshman year we were not a varsity team – we were a club, if my memory serves. We became varsity during my time here. Our softball away trips on the buses and in hotels were memorable and hilarious. Those girls were the funniest people of all time. I also remember dorm parties on weekend nights and the quarter (25 cent) Wednesday pitcher nights at Greater Grinders next to campus. It was the spot to see and be seen. I also remember:
- Driving down to Winter Haven, Florida, with my mom and friend Kathy Douglass in the Spring of 1980 with the VWU baseball team to watch Red Sox Spring Training;
- Watching Col. Tucker throw a desktop podium across the room, or watch him draw a hook on the board and watch as he “hung” his coat on the hook, which would slide down to the floor as we howled in laughter;
- Taking Rick Hite’s movie classes and falling into a lifelong love of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton;
- One year I participated in a January Term activity called “Plaster Your Favorite Professor on the Snack Bar Wall.” My drawings, as well as those of others, were on the wall for years. When I was hired by VWU in 2020, I met with Archivist Dr. Stephen Mansfield and got the photos of the walls, which I framed and hung in my office in Pruden Hall. I drew Dr. Magnuson, Dr. Lipscomb, Dr. Keefer, Jesse Fanshaw and others.
- Most importantly, I made lifelong friends at Virginia Wesleyan that I see at VWU reunions.
Were there professors/coaches who had a great impact on you?
Yes! These professors helped me realize that I eventually wanted to end up teaching in higher education: Col. Tucker, Dr. Gordon Magnuson, Dr. Rick Hite, Dr. Barry Lipscomb, Dr. Don Wolfgang, Dr. Bentley Anderson, Dr. William Shealey, and Coach Dick Moore, just to name a few. I never took Dr. Larry Hultgren, but he and I love to talk about that era when we see each other on campus, and his mentorship since my hiring in 2020 has meant the world to me.
VWC, as it was known then, was the place where I found myself and started to know what it felt like to belong to an academic community. Of all of the institutions where I have found myself over the years, VWU remains as the most important and meaningful of my life for many reasons. To be able to work here every day is a dream come true. I tell my students on a regular basis how lucky they are!