CofC Faces to Know: Anne Gutshall

Name: Anne Gutshall

Hometown: Isle of Palms, South Carolina

Education/Background: I have undergraduate and graduate degrees in psychology and education. I began my career as a school psychologist working in P-12 schools for 15 years before I joined the faculty at CofC. 

Job title: Professor, School of Education, Faculty Mental Health Fellow

How long have you worked at the College? This is my 19th year!

What are your job responsibilities? In my professor role, I teach courses in the field of psychology, typically to students who are education majors or minors. In my role as the Faculty Mental Health Fellow, I serve as a liaison between the Counseling Center and faculty who have questions or concerns about student wellness and wellbeing. I provide professional development and outreach to faculty and staff in conjunction with the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning. I can be found in the Counseling Center, too, which is one of my favorite places!

What do you like most about your job? Students – in all their iterations. I enjoy working with students who have just arrived on campus and are figuring out how to live on their own and make the most of all the College has to offer all the way to supporting students who are in their last semester with us and are figuring out what’s next for themselves post-college! My Instagram feed is filled with former students, and I love seeing them all “grown” with their careers and many of them with families of their own now. 

What question do you get asked most in your job and what’s your typical answer? “How do you pronounce your last name?” In seriousness, the question I get most asked is, “What do you say when somebody tells you something upsetting or difficult?” My typical answer is that what you say is not nearly as important as how you receive what the person is telling you. Having a safe and receptive person to tell something difficult to is very powerful. Listening intently and indicating you are truly hearing what the person has to tell you can be more supportive than anything else. 

What’s your favorite location on campus and why? I am pretty sure I am solar powered – so my favorite spaces are the sunny benches in the Cougar Mall, the Cistern Yard and the School of Education courtyard.

What are your hobbies? I love the beach – walking with my poodles and finding shells and other natural beach treasures is one of my favorite hobbies. I finally found my very first shark tooth recently!

What personal and/or professional accomplishment are you most proud of? Tough question, but I believe that teaching is one of the most noble and essential professions on the planet. And so, helping to prepare first-time teachers or support current teachers to grow their teaching practice is my greatest contribution.    

Name a creative work (book, movie, performance, etc.) you enjoyed recently and why? I am a neuroscience nerd and the book I enjoyed the most recently is The Molecule of More, which is all about dopamine and how it drives us. The book I reread at least once a year is Gratitude, by Oliver Sacks.   

What was your favorite TV show growing up? I grew up in the ’70s and ’80s, so TV was very different. Occasionally, there was an Afterschool Special (ABC) that interrupted the typical programming. The show always contained the “weighty hard stuff” of people’s lives, such as teen pregnancy or death of a parent, etc. It sounds odd for a kid to be interested in such heavy interpersonal topics, but I have always been drawn to understanding the ways in which other people’s journeys are different than my own and how to support people going through the ups and downs of the rollercoaster of life.

What’s next on your bucket list? More travel with my family! My grown children live far away, across the country and the world, and I am looking forward to our next meetup, likely somewhere in Asia this summer. 

What is something your campus colleagues would be surprised to know about you? I became a vegetarian in 2012 when the College Reads! book was Eating Animals, by Jonathan Safran Foer. I guess you could say the book impacted me!

What was your first job? I started babysitting when I was in the fifth grade, but my first “real job” was working the drive thru at Wendy’s.

What’s your favorite Lowcountry restaurant? Very tough to pick just one! I love Stella’s on St. Philip, Basic Kitchen on Wentworth and Bistronomy by Nico on Spring Street.

Describe your perfect day: Hiking or walking somewhere in nature that is glorious and beautiful in the morning, then rollerskating to disco music all afternoon, followed by delicious food, laughter and time spent with my family and friends in the evening!

To nominate a faculty or staff member to be featured in the “CofC Faces to Know” series, please send the person’s name and email address to facstaffnews@cofc.edu. Please include “CofC Faces to Know” in the email subject line.