University of the Ozarks Professor of Communication Studies Dr. Greta Marlow first became familiar with the University at age 5 when her father, Dr. Noel Rowbotham, was hired to teach physics.
Marlow, who has announced her retirement at the end of this semester after teaching at the University for more than three decades, said Ozarks has been a part of her life as long as she can remember.
“When we were with my father and waiting while he did some kind of school business, we would pass the time by looking at all the displays in the entry of the science center,” Marlow said. “The main one I remember, of course, is a two-headed calf fetus in a glass jar, although I think there were also some beautiful cross-sections of polished rocks. I also remember he would bring a telescope out to the farm and have an astronomy night with students.”
Marlow would go on to graduate from Ozarks in 1984 and return in 1990 as an adjunct professor, starting a 33-year teaching career at her alma mater that was interrupted only by one year away at the University of Kansas working on her doctorate.
Coming out of high school, Ozarks wasn’t her first choice to colleges to attend despite her familiarity with the campus.
“I didn’t want to attend when I graduated from high school. I had my heart set on being a journalism major at the University of Arkansas,” she said. “But I didn’t have any money to do that, so I ended up at Ozarks, and it was absolutely the best thing for me. I would have been utterly lost at U of A, but I had all kinds of opportunities at Ozarks, from working in public relations, to being in the choir and theatre productions, to getting to interact with students from around the world, to having some very memorable professors like Billie King, Robert Basham and Gilbert Parks.”
As a freshman, Marlow found herself serving as the University’s sports information director (SID).
“At the time, Ozarks didn’t have an SID, so I was hired as a student-worker to fill that role. It’s kind of crazy to think about that,” she said. “I wrote season previews, game stories and player profiles, as well as keeping statistics during the games and calling in game reports and statistics to state newspapers after the games. I also created a statistics report at halftime to get to the coaches. I can’t believe now that a college freshman was trusted to do all that. After a couple of years as the SID, I transitioned into working with Steve Edmisten in the main public relations office, where I did some writing and a lot of work developing photographs in the darkroom and also spent a lot of time after hours at Tom and Ramona Cogan’s print shop typesetting and doing layout for University publications. It’s amazing to think how much the field has changed because of technology. Those were really valuable experiences for me, and I’m grateful to the people who gave me the chance to do them.”
After graduation, Marlow obtained a master’s degree and spent a couple of years teaching communication classes at Arkansas Valley Vocational-Technical School before her alma mater came calling in 1990.
“Originally, Dr. Caroline Whitson had asked me to teach a print journalism class as an adjunct, but I think someone resigned over the summer and they needed someone to also teach speech classes,” Marlow said. “Midway through my first year, the University offered to put me on a tenure-track appointment if I would start work on a terminal degree.”
Marlow spent a full year and three summers completing coursework at KU for her Ph.D., defending her dissertation in September 1995. Except for the one year in Kansas, she continued to teach full-time at Ozarks while working on her doctorate.
She said returning to Ozarks helped her appreciate the University’s focus on arts and humanities, but also introduced new challenges.
“After teaching for a couple of years in an environment that was dominated by vocational concerns, I was happy to return to the arts and humanities,” she said. “I also remember being a little overwhelmed because I was also serving as the advisor to the student newspaper, which was something I’d never done before. I had done a short stint as the editor for the Mountain Eagle as a student, but being the advisor was different. I was never very good at getting people to meet their obligations and deadlines, either as an editor or as an advisor.”
Marlow said there will be plenty of things she will miss about teaching at Ozarks, and a few things that she won’t.
“Probably the thing I will miss the most is seeing students develop and grow,” she said. “Public speaking was always one of my favorite classes to teach because there was usually clear growth between the students’ speeches at the beginning of the semester and at the end. Over the years, I’ve been really impressed by the creativity some students showed on their assignments, whether it was a sample ad campaign, a Photoshop portfolio or a plan for a course PR project of some kind. There’s a lot of talent to tap in to. Although I won’t miss committee meetings, I will miss the other faculty and staff. I know for sure I will miss working with Susan Edens. She’s been a great collaborator in the communication program for years, and I appreciate her so much. And even though I maybe don’t see other faculty and staff on a daily basis, I always have enjoyed conversations with them.”
Marlow said two of her favorite memories at Ozarks involved her Persuasion Theory and Ozarks Seminar classes.
“One of my favorite memories is an exercise we did in Persuasion Theory class to illustrate cognitive dissonance,” she said. “I would bring in several unusual food items, like pickled kohlrabi, blueberry shrub, or chia pudding and have students try them. Students usually were really engaged in the exercise. It was a fun day of class, especially the last time I did it before Covid suppressed everything. I also have good memories of the Ozarks Seminar class I taught. I only taught that class one time because I always thought I wouldn’t like it, but it was a good experience. I especially enjoyed the day trip we took to the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival; the students seemed to get a lot out of that experience, as well. My favorite day of the class, though, was one in which every student had to take a turn telling a story, fictional or biographical. There were some funny stories and some that were really touching.”
A particular class outing to Little Rock also resonated with Marlow.
“I took my News Writing class to the Old State House in Little Rock the night Bill Clinton was elected president for the first time,” she said. “The crowds were huge. After his victory was announced and he had spoken to the crowd, we were supposed to meet up to go back to the van. Only three or four students – who happened to be Walton scholars – didn’t show up. This was in the days before cell phones, so I had no idea where they were or how to find them, and I was so worried something bad had happened to them. I decided we’d just wait around at the van, and after about another hour or so, they showed up. They had gotten in the line to shake President Clinton’s hand. So I guess it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for them, but I’m pretty sure some of my gray hair came from that specific night.”
Marlow, who won the University Bagwell Outstanding Professor Award in 1998, has written several historical novels about early Arkansas. She and her husband, Jeff, also run a family farm. Their son, Roger, is a 2017 Ozarks graduate and daughter, Lily, is a 2021 Ozarks graduate. In retirement, Marlow said she will be “eager to throw off the tyranny of the clock.”
“Whatever I end up doing, I want to do it on a more relaxed schedule that’s more tuned in to the natural flow of life,” she said. “I’m going to be much more involved in helping Jeff with the farm, and I’m ridiculously excited about the chance to plant lots of little green things. We’re going to travel without having to worry about whether it fits into a school schedule. I’m going to read something for pleasure in the middle of the day without feeling guilty that I should be doing something for school. I’m going to tackle all kinds of projects I’ve been putting off because I didn’t have time. I’m going to finally comb out our Great Pyranees Finnegan’s shaggy coat. I’m going to appreciate every little flower I pass while I’m out on a walk. I will never run out of things to do.”
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