April 8, 2024 • 13 mins
Embark on a journey through the corridors of the mind with Dr. Neil Gray, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at UT Tyler, as he explains how a 'whole brain' education philosophy intertwines logic, creativity, and innovation. Dr. Gray, initially immersed in the sciences, now champions a diverse array of disciplines, from music to criminal justice, illustrating how each field complements the other in unexpected ways. Celebrate the remarkable growth of the university's music program and the successful accreditation of a brand-new social work program, revealing the resilience and adaptability of an institution in the face of unprecedented times.
Delve into the seismic shifts higher education has faced during the pandemic era, where technology and contemporary teaching methods have rapidly come to the forefront. Dr. Gray reflects on the challenges such transitions bring but also highlights the triumphs and potential for future innovation. With personal anecdotes and a reflective gaze, this conversation will resonate with anyone invested in the transformative power of education and the exciting evolution of UT Tyler.
(Show notes are automatically generated and may contain phonetic spellings and other spelling and punctuation errors. Grammar errors contained in the original recording are not typically corrected.)
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
LANDESS (00:04):
UT Tyler Radio is brought to you by the College of
Arts and Sciences at theUniversity of Texas at Tyler.
But what is the College of Artsand Sciences?
I'm News Director Mike LandisTo answer that question.
Ut Tyler Radio connects withCollege Dean Dr Neal Gray.
GRAY (00:20):
Nearly 20 programs you're over, maybe over 20 programs if
you look at all the degrees, butwe have 10 departments, some
with multiple degrees, includingboth undergraduate and graduate
.
So I like to say that we're thewhole brain college.
LANDESS (00:37):
I like that You're covering all aspects of it.
Yep, your background is in thesciences area of arts and
sciences.
What's it like to beresponsible for?
Everything from music toliterature to criminal justice.
GRAY (00:49):
Well, it's incredible and, as I said a moment ago, we're
the whole brain college, andwhat I mean by that?
As you know, there's thisconcept that's been around for a
long time of the left brainversus the right brain, right
the left brain being logic andscience.
You know analysis in the rightbrain being creativity and
innovation, and I had been ascientist my whole life.
(01:11):
I thought only about science,really, but also and especially
the arts, including all thehumanities, the liberal arts,
the fine and the performing arts.
To me.
(01:32):
It was a new beginning for meLearn about what they do, and
maybe I become a whole brainperson too at some point.
But what I've realized over timethat's been really cool, you
know about my work with all thediverse disciplines we have is
that I have learned they'reabsolutely more alike than they
are different, and so there issome middle ground where that
(01:54):
left and right brain meet andcreativity and innovation,
analysis and logic.
You don't really do anythingwithout all of those things and
logic, you don't really doanything without all of those
things.
And so I think one beautifulthing about our college is that
you know we have all of thosethings that seem super different
but really are way more alikethan most people imagine, so
(02:18):
it's just really been exciting,a tremendous opportunity and an
honor to be able to champion,you know, things outside of my
normal area, and so I reallyhave enjoyed it.
LANDESS (02:33):
Well, perhaps your expertise in chemistry is a
metaphor knowing the differentelements, blending them
appropriately and creating adesired result.
GRAY (02:43):
That's a good way to look at it.
You know, I think you know I'vespent my whole life being, you
know I am a chemist, but also inmy fun time though, I really do
enjoy chemistry.
I'm a musician Probably not agood one, but I have fun with it
.
I'm also a painter, so I'vespent my life thinking about
(03:04):
those things as the fun things.
You know, that really give mepleasure in life, and so no, I
agree, bringing all the thingstogether and trying to make them
work.
It's really fun for me tochampion the disciplines that
are outside my normal area.
LANDESS (03:21):
With responsibility for such a diverse academic
universe, what have been some ofyour biggest challenges?
The pandemic, of course, butwhat else?
GRAY (03:31):
I think we're just, we're really large and the pandemic
certainly is something you know,you say besides the pandemic,
but it's hard to ignore how muchthat's changed higher education
, I think mostly in good ways,because I think, even though the
pandemic itself was bad, itforced us into a situation where
(03:51):
we had to learn about newtechnologies, new ways to do
things that I think we wouldhave gotten to eventually anyway
.
That changes how we teach andmeet the learning demands of
this new generation.
So I think there's some goodthings that came out that we
were kind of forced to do fasterthan normal.
(04:11):
But other challenges are for me.
You know, I try to be a peopleperson.
I'm one of those people thattry to make everyone happy, you
know.
Good luck with that.
Yeah, I know, I know and I seea lot of that in you too, mike.
And so the biggest challengefor me is trying to always win
(04:32):
and knowing that sometimes, youknow, you're not always going to
be victorious in every scenario.
So it's been a challenge tounderstand that on the very
large scale of our big college,but it's just been incredible.
I wouldn't change it foranything.
LANDESS (04:52):
There are so many departments to be proud of.
Can you share some successstories that come to mind?
GRAY (04:57):
Sure, I can give you.
Well, how long do you have,mike?
Well, keep going.
We've got 10 departments over20 degrees.
I could give you successstories in every single one.
I'll give you some recent ones,sure, and ones that kind of
relate to this idea that I'm ascientist that is also a
champion for the arts.
Our music program has just beenincredible.
(05:17):
You know, they have doubledtheir majors in a matter of a
year because they have put a lotof effort into actually
recruiting and going out toschools and visiting with band
directors and students and bandsat the local high schools, and
they have doubled their majorsand then look to double them
(05:40):
again this upcoming year.
So our music program, whichyou'll see everywhere all the
time, and I encourage you, ifyou haven't listened to some of
our ensembles, our jazz band andthe like, oh my gosh, go do it.
Yeah, dr Sarah Roberts has donesuch a great job.
Yeah, she's incredible.
So I'm really proud of thesuccess that our music program
(06:00):
has had.
I could give many other examples.
One new area that I'm reallyproud of within the college is a
few years ago we actuallydeveloped a new program in
social work, and so recently,just last week, we learned that
our social work received theirfinal accreditation from the
(06:22):
Council of Social Work Educationand so they are now nationally
accredited program.
So we went from zero a fewyears ago to now this incredible
(06:45):
, large and fully accreditedprogram.
Very proud of that.
To me it's just anotherimportant facet of what we do in
a college that puts theuniverse in the university, and
so really proud of that also andlike I said, mike, I could go
every department and startlisting off Every department
should be very proud of thethings that they are doing, and
I know that I certainly am.
LANDESS (07:06):
Full disclosure here.
You're my boss.
You got the idea of a UT Tylerradio station off the ground and
I got to be a part of itsassembly and startup.
As we head into three years nowon the air, there's been
considerable evolution in ourmission and in our programming.
Some of it's been growing pains, huh.
GRAY (07:24):
Well, yeah, of course, I think we were launched during
the pandemic really, where youknow, whatever you wanted to be
during the pandemic, you had tokind of check that a little bit
and think, all right, where dowe want to be in the future and
when can we really start thatjourney?
So there was a lot of justsurvival making sure all the
(07:44):
hardware worked and all thesoftware worked.
LANDESS (07:47):
We had a blank sheet of paper.
Essentially we did.
I mean, we didn't take a radiostation that already existed and
make it work.
We bought a frequency and thentook it from there.
GRAY (07:55):
That's right, and so the goal has always been to move
forward our mission as aninstitution, and that this would
be one way that we could do it.
So for me, it's always abouteducation.
You know how can we use KVUT toeducate, to celebrate the fine
(08:17):
arts, hopefully, I've alreadyestablished I'm a big champion.
We are too Of the arts, and sohow do we actually celebrate and
show the importance of the fineand the performing arts,
especially in the audio sense,the performing arts, right.
So we love the idea of jazzbecause it's a lot of what we do
.
So we love the idea of jazzbecause it's a lot of what we do
(08:41):
.
So growing pains, because it'sa big effort and where you want
to be is not necessarily whereyou are at the very beginning.
You have to walk that road andthanks to you and your
colleagues here within the radiostation, we are just doing a
really good job of moving thingsforward toward that final
(09:02):
mission of being kind of thisfine arts educational radio,
where I hope that we can give avoice to our.
We have more experts.
We have an expert on everything, just about on the campus right
, we do.
LANDESS (09:14):
You're on this campus right.
GRAY (09:15):
Yeah, so we have a little bit of a hostage group of
experts that we can takeadvantage of.
LANDESS (09:22):
I was thinking of it as bench strength.
GRAY (09:24):
There you go, we have a deep bench.
LANDESS (09:26):
We have a deep bench.
GRAY (09:27):
So if we want to talk about history, we certainly have
people that can come in andtalk about history.
If we want to talk aboutmedicine or thing and that's
what's really cool about auniversity having this kind of
access is that we are able tobring the knowledge and
experience of our faculty tobear, but not only that, so
(09:49):
giving them a voice, right to beable to share things that
people are interested in, and bythe way, it doesn't always have
to be super like dryknowledgeable things.
LANDESS (10:02):
They're relevant.
That's the thing I've enjoyedabout talking to people here on
campus.
They are able to take what theydo on a daily basis and make it
relevant to right now, which isreally how you communicate with
students, anyway, yeah,relevant, and sometimes just
cool and fun.
GRAY (10:16):
For example, you know, if you have a novelist and we do
they can come in and talk aboutcreative writing and things.
Who doesn't want to be anovelist?
If they've do, they can come inand talk about creative writing
and things.
Who doesn't want to be anovelist?
If they've read in their life?
LANDESS (10:25):
Everyone wants to be a writer right, and Tara Proper
actually talked about how youget published.
This is at first.
You have to grow a thick skin,that's right.
GRAY (10:33):
An amazing poet, by the way.
Yes, exactly.
And another very good author, anovelist, glenn Blake on the
faculty.
That's just an incrediblewriter.
LANDESS (10:44):
Yeah, and Bebe has really got into podcasting and
is doing a great service interms of letting people know.
What does an English literaturedegree mean?
It means that you got a betterchance of getting a really good
job because you're ready.
GRAY (10:58):
That's right.
And if you haven't listened toher stuff, I encourage you to go
do that.
It's just incredible, that'sright.
And if you haven't listened toher stuff, I encourage you to go
do that.
It's just incredible.
So my hope always with theradio station is that we provide
informative and beautifulthings for our community and we
also give the opportunity forour community to benefit East
(11:20):
Texas.
And how do we give our expertsa voice?
How do we give members of thecommunity a voice to talk about
things that are educational andinteresting but also fun?
And those things take time,right.
So you don't just throw a radiostation together overnight and
as a chemist I learned thatpretty quick and that's been fun
(11:43):
but you because there is a kindof technical side to it.
It takes some time.
But then there is the contentside.
LANDESS (11:53):
I think that with a lot of brand new ventures, you find
that you find out prettyquickly what you didn't know.
You didn't know.
GRAY (12:00):
Yeah, that is true.
And going back to one of yourprevious questions about what
are some of the things I'm mostexcited about, you know, in our
college that we work with iscertainly KVUT is at the top of
that.
It's something that I'm veryproud of.
I'm very proud of you guys andwhat you are doing, and it's
(12:20):
just one of those things that Ifeel like, hey, I can just step
back and let it happen, and ifyou need something, you know
I'll go get you that somethingyou know.
LANDESS (12:30):
this is being recorded.
GRAY (12:31):
We're going to play this back for you.
I know that's right.
LANDESS (12:34):
You have any final thoughts you'd like to share?
GRAY (12:37):
I would end with saying I really love this place.
I do, and I think it's a greatinstitution.
We are now at the precipice ofwhat we're going to be moving
forward, because I feel likeevery five years we move forward
in a big way you know Dramatic.
(12:58):
Then I was here as a studenttoo, so I have seen UT Tyler
pretty much its whole life and Ihave seen so many changes and
every change has been verypositive and moving in a good
direction, and I feel like thatis continuing right now in a
very accelerated way.
LANDESS (13:17):
Thanks for listening as UT Tyler Radio connects with
Arts and Sciences College DeanDr Neil Gray.
For UT Tyler Radio News, I'mMike Landis.
UT Tyler Radio is brought to you by the College of
Arts and Sciences at theUniversity of Texas at Tyler.
But what is the College of Artsand Sciences?
I'm News Director Mike LandisTo answer that question.
Ut Tyler Radio connects withCollege Dean Dr Neal Gray.
GRAY (00:20):
Nearly 20 programs you're over, maybe over 20 programs if
you look at all the degrees, butwe have 10 departments, some
with multiple degrees, includingboth undergraduate and graduate
.
So I like to say that we're thewhole brain college.
LANDESS (00:37):
I like that You're covering all aspects of it.
Yep, your background is in thesciences area of arts and
sciences.
What's it like to beresponsible for?
Everything from music toliterature to criminal justice.
GRAY (00:49):
Well, it's incredible and, as I said a moment ago, we're
the whole brain college, andwhat I mean by that?
As you know, there's thisconcept that's been around for a
long time of the left brainversus the right brain, right
the left brain being logic andscience.
You know analysis in the rightbrain being creativity and
innovation, and I had been ascientist my whole life.
(01:11):
I thought only about science,really, but also and especially
the arts, including all thehumanities, the liberal arts,
the fine and the performing arts.
To me.
(01:32):
It was a new beginning for meLearn about what they do, and
maybe I become a whole brainperson too at some point.
But what I've realized over timethat's been really cool, you
know about my work with all thediverse disciplines we have is
that I have learned they'reabsolutely more alike than they
are different, and so there issome middle ground where that
(01:54):
left and right brain meet andcreativity and innovation,
analysis and logic.
You don't really do anythingwithout all of those things and
logic, you don't really doanything without all of those
things.
And so I think one beautifulthing about our college is that
you know we have all of thosethings that seem super different
but really are way more alikethan most people imagine, so
(02:18):
it's just really been exciting,a tremendous opportunity and an
honor to be able to champion,you know, things outside of my
normal area, and so I reallyhave enjoyed it.
LANDESS (02:33):
Well, perhaps your expertise in chemistry is a
metaphor knowing the differentelements, blending them
appropriately and creating adesired result.
GRAY (02:43):
That's a good way to look at it.
You know, I think you know I'vespent my whole life being, you
know I am a chemist, but also inmy fun time though, I really do
enjoy chemistry.
I'm a musician Probably not agood one, but I have fun with it
.
I'm also a painter, so I'vespent my life thinking about
(03:04):
those things as the fun things.
You know, that really give mepleasure in life, and so no, I
agree, bringing all the thingstogether and trying to make them
work.
It's really fun for me tochampion the disciplines that
are outside my normal area.
LANDESS (03:21):
With responsibility for such a diverse academic
universe, what have been some ofyour biggest challenges?
The pandemic, of course, butwhat else?
GRAY (03:31):
I think we're just, we're really large and the pandemic
certainly is something you know,you say besides the pandemic,
but it's hard to ignore how muchthat's changed higher education
, I think mostly in good ways,because I think, even though the
pandemic itself was bad, itforced us into a situation where
(03:51):
we had to learn about newtechnologies, new ways to do
things that I think we wouldhave gotten to eventually anyway
.
That changes how we teach andmeet the learning demands of
this new generation.
So I think there's some goodthings that came out that we
were kind of forced to do fasterthan normal.
(04:11):
But other challenges are for me.
You know, I try to be a peopleperson.
I'm one of those people thattry to make everyone happy, you
know.
Good luck with that.
Yeah, I know, I know and I seea lot of that in you too, mike.
And so the biggest challengefor me is trying to always win
(04:32):
and knowing that sometimes, youknow, you're not always going to
be victorious in every scenario.
So it's been a challenge tounderstand that on the very
large scale of our big college,but it's just been incredible.
I wouldn't change it foranything.
LANDESS (04:52):
There are so many departments to be proud of.
Can you share some successstories that come to mind?
GRAY (04:57):
Sure, I can give you.
Well, how long do you have,mike?
Well, keep going.
We've got 10 departments over20 degrees.
I could give you successstories in every single one.
I'll give you some recent ones,sure, and ones that kind of
relate to this idea that I'm ascientist that is also a
champion for the arts.
Our music program has just beenincredible.
(05:17):
You know, they have doubledtheir majors in a matter of a
year because they have put a lotof effort into actually
recruiting and going out toschools and visiting with band
directors and students and bandsat the local high schools, and
they have doubled their majorsand then look to double them
(05:40):
again this upcoming year.
So our music program, whichyou'll see everywhere all the
time, and I encourage you, ifyou haven't listened to some of
our ensembles, our jazz band andthe like, oh my gosh, go do it.
Yeah, dr Sarah Roberts has donesuch a great job.
Yeah, she's incredible.
So I'm really proud of thesuccess that our music program
(06:00):
has had.
I could give many other examples.
One new area that I'm reallyproud of within the college is a
few years ago we actuallydeveloped a new program in
social work, and so recently,just last week, we learned that
our social work received theirfinal accreditation from the
(06:22):
Council of Social Work Educationand so they are now nationally
accredited program.
So we went from zero a fewyears ago to now this incredible
(06:45):
, large and fully accreditedprogram.
Very proud of that.
To me it's just anotherimportant facet of what we do in
a college that puts theuniverse in the university, and
so really proud of that also andlike I said, mike, I could go
every department and startlisting off Every department
should be very proud of thethings that they are doing, and
I know that I certainly am.
LANDESS (07:06):
Full disclosure here.
You're my boss.
You got the idea of a UT Tylerradio station off the ground and
I got to be a part of itsassembly and startup.
As we head into three years nowon the air, there's been
considerable evolution in ourmission and in our programming.
Some of it's been growing pains, huh.
GRAY (07:24):
Well, yeah, of course, I think we were launched during
the pandemic really, where youknow, whatever you wanted to be
during the pandemic, you had tokind of check that a little bit
and think, all right, where dowe want to be in the future and
when can we really start thatjourney?
So there was a lot of justsurvival making sure all the
(07:44):
hardware worked and all thesoftware worked.
LANDESS (07:47):
We had a blank sheet of paper.
Essentially we did.
I mean, we didn't take a radiostation that already existed and
make it work.
We bought a frequency and thentook it from there.
GRAY (07:55):
That's right, and so the goal has always been to move
forward our mission as aninstitution, and that this would
be one way that we could do it.
So for me, it's always abouteducation.
You know how can we use KVUT toeducate, to celebrate the fine
(08:17):
arts, hopefully, I've alreadyestablished I'm a big champion.
We are too Of the arts, and sohow do we actually celebrate and
show the importance of the fineand the performing arts,
especially in the audio sense,the performing arts, right.
So we love the idea of jazzbecause it's a lot of what we do
.
So we love the idea of jazzbecause it's a lot of what we do
(08:41):
.
So growing pains, because it'sa big effort and where you want
to be is not necessarily whereyou are at the very beginning.
You have to walk that road andthanks to you and your
colleagues here within the radiostation, we are just doing a
really good job of moving thingsforward toward that final
(09:02):
mission of being kind of thisfine arts educational radio,
where I hope that we can give avoice to our.
We have more experts.
We have an expert on everything, just about on the campus right
, we do.
LANDESS (09:14):
You're on this campus right.
GRAY (09:15):
Yeah, so we have a little bit of a hostage group of
experts that we can takeadvantage of.
LANDESS (09:22):
I was thinking of it as bench strength.
GRAY (09:24):
There you go, we have a deep bench.
LANDESS (09:26):
We have a deep bench.
GRAY (09:27):
So if we want to talk about history, we certainly have
people that can come in andtalk about history.
If we want to talk aboutmedicine or thing and that's
what's really cool about auniversity having this kind of
access is that we are able tobring the knowledge and
experience of our faculty tobear, but not only that, so
(09:49):
giving them a voice, right to beable to share things that
people are interested in, and bythe way, it doesn't always have
to be super like dryknowledgeable things.
LANDESS (10:02):
They're relevant.
That's the thing I've enjoyedabout talking to people here on
campus.
They are able to take what theydo on a daily basis and make it
relevant to right now, which isreally how you communicate with
students, anyway, yeah,relevant, and sometimes just
cool and fun.
GRAY (10:16):
For example, you know, if you have a novelist and we do
they can come in and talk aboutcreative writing and things.
Who doesn't want to be anovelist?
If they've do, they can come inand talk about creative writing
and things.
Who doesn't want to be anovelist?
If they've read in their life?
LANDESS (10:25):
Everyone wants to be a writer right, and Tara Proper
actually talked about how youget published.
This is at first.
You have to grow a thick skin,that's right.
GRAY (10:33):
An amazing poet, by the way.
Yes, exactly.
And another very good author, anovelist, glenn Blake on the
faculty.
That's just an incrediblewriter.
LANDESS (10:44):
Yeah, and Bebe has really got into podcasting and
is doing a great service interms of letting people know.
What does an English literaturedegree mean?
It means that you got a betterchance of getting a really good
job because you're ready.
GRAY (10:58):
That's right.
And if you haven't listened toher stuff, I encourage you to go
do that.
It's just incredible, that'sright.
And if you haven't listened toher stuff, I encourage you to go
do that.
It's just incredible.
So my hope always with theradio station is that we provide
informative and beautifulthings for our community and we
also give the opportunity forour community to benefit East
(11:20):
Texas.
And how do we give our expertsa voice?
How do we give members of thecommunity a voice to talk about
things that are educational andinteresting but also fun?
And those things take time,right.
So you don't just throw a radiostation together overnight and
as a chemist I learned thatpretty quick and that's been fun
(11:43):
but you because there is a kindof technical side to it.
It takes some time.
But then there is the contentside.
LANDESS (11:53):
I think that with a lot of brand new ventures, you find
that you find out prettyquickly what you didn't know.
You didn't know.
GRAY (12:00):
Yeah, that is true.
And going back to one of yourprevious questions about what
are some of the things I'm mostexcited about, you know, in our
college that we work with iscertainly KVUT is at the top of
that.
It's something that I'm veryproud of.
I'm very proud of you guys andwhat you are doing, and it's
(12:20):
just one of those things that Ifeel like, hey, I can just step
back and let it happen, and ifyou need something, you know
I'll go get you that somethingyou know.
LANDESS (12:30):
this is being recorded.
GRAY (12:31):
We're going to play this back for you.
I know that's right.
LANDESS (12:34):
You have any final thoughts you'd like to share?
GRAY (12:37):
I would end with saying I really love this place.
I do, and I think it's a greatinstitution.
We are now at the precipice ofwhat we're going to be moving
forward, because I feel likeevery five years we move forward
in a big way you know Dramatic.
(12:58):
Then I was here as a studenttoo, so I have seen UT Tyler
pretty much its whole life and Ihave seen so many changes and
every change has been verypositive and moving in a good
direction, and I feel like thatis continuing right now in a
very accelerated way.
LANDESS (13:17):
Thanks for listening as UT Tyler Radio connects with
Arts and Sciences College DeanDr Neil Gray.
For UT Tyler Radio News, I'mMike Landis.
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