Thomas Nester Comes to Bridgewater
Sarah Walker
Even though History 232 was a core-requirement for most, students waited eagerly in their seats for their new professor to walk through the door. Dr. Thomas Nester finally did, arriving five minutes early, scanning the room through his wired glasses as he walked down the aisle.
Nester’s hair was cut short, sprinkled with grey, though hints of a dark color lie underneath. As he walked past students, he towered over them with his slow steps. His buttoned down shirt was tucked in to his kaki pants. He appeared to look like a middle aged man, yet wordily, as he lay his slick black briefcase on the podium.
Nester’s silence only lasted until it was exactly twelve twenty. The seats were all filled, the rows closely aligned. Nester introduced himself with a loud, fervent voice, seeming to match his thick, substantial build.
Nester was not a typical newly hired history professor. In 1995 , while attending the Susquehanna University of Pennsylvania, Nester admitted his desire for this occupation was stumbled upon rather than pursued as a dream, “I followed an unusual road to the history department at Susquehanna. During the fall of my sophomore year a friend of mine, who happened to be a history major, encouraged me to take an American Military History course with him.” After enrolling in the course Nester developed a true passion for the subject, “I loved it and really enjoyed the professor, Dr. Gerald Gordon, who became my advisor. After completing the course I finally knew what I wanted to do with my life, so I declared as a history major and set my sights on ultimately becoming a history professor.”
Achieving his goal, Nester took role of his first class at Bridgewater State University. He set down his attendance sheet and stared across at the new faces. A slow smile crept across his face, “ How many of you are Red Sox fans?” A nervous laugh from students echoed in the tiny room, while almost everyone raised their hands. “ Figured,” he snickered sarcastically, once again, making the students relax a little more in their seats, this time letting out a louder, more comfortable laugh. Nester continued to joke with his new students—later on pointing to his grey hair, “ looks can be deceiving, I’m not that old. I have three children.” Before the history lecture had even began, students had a hard time controlling their laughter, glancing at one another with a message in their bright eyes: this class was defiantly not going to be boring.
As the lesson began on the Colonial Times—Nester recalled teaching some of the same material to a college in The Middle East, and how their reactions differed from ours, “I figured it would be a great opportunity to teach in a completely different setting with students who might have some strong feelings about the United States, and not all of them positive. It was awesome! I interacted with students from the Middle East, Africa and South Asia, and I am now a big advocate of study abroad."
The students started to become engaged, learning their new professor had taught in a whole other country. They looked interested, wondering what else Nester had to offer to the BSU community.
Aside from showing his open mind and different experiences—Nester proves to be just like his students once: working hard for a grade, striving to fit in, trying to figure out what he wanted to do, and who he would ultimately become. Reflecting back on his college days, Nester makes an appoint to mention other aspects besides all the work, “I wasn’t always the most engaged student, especially during my first two years in college, but I loved everything about being on a college campus. I’ve always enjoyed the unique environment produced by higher education.” In fact, much about BSU and the students remind him of his own college campus, “My alma mater possessed a vibrant campus community enriched by a student body and faculty with a diversity of experiences and interests, full of youthful enthusiasm, optimism and aspirations. You simply don’t get to work in this type of atmosphere anywhere outside of higher education.”
What attracted Nester to BSU the most was simple: the students. Anyone can see from sitting in on one of his lectures—his concern and empathy for his class is always on high. From stopping when blank stares are protruded his way or anecdotes to help students re-focus, Nester is always aware, always alert to the changing atmosphere of the classroom. He wants to be there with us, learning, yet knowing when we’ve had enough.
Although, the small class size is what Nester really loves about BSU, “ Perhaps this will sound cliché, but my favorite part of the job is teaching and interacting with students. That’s why I entered this career field in the first place.” Comparing this campus to his past, Nester notices the great differences, “As a graduate student at Texas A&M I taught U.S. history in lecture halls of 250 students. Some would say hello to me on campus and I didn’t recognize them as being students in my class. That’s not the case here at BSU and that’s probably my favorite aspect so far. I’m also fortunate to have colleagues that I really enjoy working with in my department.”
Already, Nester seems to have found a comfort here explaining, “For me, there is nothing better or more positive than being in a classroom, discussing innovative approaches to the past, and watching students discover that history is so much more than names, dates and places to be memorized, regurgitated on test day and quickly forgotten. I especially enjoy when students approach me after class for further discussion on the material we covered that day. It speaks well of BSU students that it has happened so frequently in this young semester.”
Nester continuous to interact with students each day of the lectures. After a slide show of the early settlements of James Town, Nester recognized the glazed over eyes—he glanced down at a student’s notebook, assuming he noticed the scribbled writing, becoming even messier if possible. He calls out a student’s name. When she glances up, he asks what her favorite part of History is. “ Learning about the Native Americans,” she replies on spot. Nester nods, “ So this is right up your ally!” The classrooms heavy silence broke as Nester continued around the room asking what was each student’s favorite part of History. Some he explains we will cover, some unfortunately we will not. Meanwhile, the students were being brought back into the lecture, back to reality, back to Jamestown and the early colonies.
To say Nester cares is an understatement, if he could give any advice to his students it would be what his mother always told him, “Choose a career you love and you’ll find some way to earn a living at it. In my experience, money is great but it doesn’t bring happiness when other aspects of your life bring you down. There’s nothing worse than going to a job you hate."
Aside from making the classroom a place of unique learning and engagement, Nester is always working on something. Just like his students, Nester has a life outside the classroom, mentioning his other interests, “My favorite hobby is hiking. I can’t wait to explore the trails up here in New England. My other favorite pastimes include spending time with my wife and children, travel, and reading.” Nester also points out that he loves to be outside, mentioning again his wife who, “introduced me to blueberry picking this summer, which I found to be a great stress reliever.”
Besides hiking and spending time with his family on his days off, Nester is also currently completing an article concerning state court challenges to military enforcement measures in late-Reconstruction Louisiana, as well as revising his dissertation into a book manuscript as well as, “revising my dissertation into a book manuscript. After that, I intend to embark on some new research regarding the U.S. Navy’s role in civil disorders and a piece on how Reconstruction-era violence entered into the South’s Lost Cause mythology at the end of the nineteenth century.”
As life and time move forward—so do Nester’s history classes, the students now filling in their seats, adjusting to the familiarly of his teaching, humor, and unique way of handling a diverse classroom. As for the students who are not in Nester’s history classes, they wait impatiently to experience his teaching. Junior history major, Jaclyn DiCarlo, has heard of Thomas Nester, waiting anxiously for the Spring semester, “ I cannot wait to take Thomas Nester for my Civil War class. A ton of my friends have him this semester and I never hear the end of how cool he is. I’ll be sure to sign up for his class first.”