Inside Furman is published monthly during the school year by the Furman University Department of Marketing and Public Relations. For story ideas, e-mail John Roberts, editor.
In the
eye of the storm
Crumley holds things together in fast-paced department
If Furman's chemistry department were an atom, Myra Crumley would be the nucleus. Circulating about her would be dozens of electrons - professors, students and research assistants.
In a sometimes chaotic place, Crumley maintains order and harmony. Without her, the electrons would scatter and the atom would disintegrate.
An exaggeration?
"Oh, no," says chemistry professor Moses Lee. "Myra is what keeps us together. She keeps us bonded."
To the nine chemistry faculty members, Crumley is a consummate organizer and source of information. To more than 80 majors, she is a caring confidant, a source of comfort.
"The students have started calling me 'the grandmother'," says Crumley, co-recipient of the 2003 Chiles-Harrill Award. "I kind of like the title because I get to know them. Some tell me their problems. I've always felt that students are our business, and I do everything I can for them."
Many of the students that wind up at her cubicle in Plyler Hall are the first- or second-year majors trying to come to grips with the academic rigors associated with the chemistry program. Although Crumley never studied chemistry in college (she holds an associate's degree in business management), she can relate to their anxiety.
Before joining the Furman staff in 1976, Crumley had been out of the workforce for several years. She worked as an office manager from 1956 to 1969 before resigning to help raise her two sons, Paul and Mark. When she joined the chemistry department as a part-time office assistant, she felt as if she were learning a new language.
"I had to really, really work at it," she says. "It was real difficult. But the professors were real kind. That helped to keep me going."
Crumley, whose sister graduated from Furman in 1976, had never considered a career in higher education until Mark announced his intention to enroll at Furman at the tender age of 6. Crumley dismissed her son's prediction as a passing phase, but her interest in Furman piqued later when she learned about the school's tuition benefit program.
Crumley's family has grown closer to Furman through the years. Mark's loyalty never wavered, and he graduated from Furman in 1989. Paul, a music enthusiast, attended North Greenville College but was a fixture at many Furman music events. The Furman Singers' rendition of Brown Eyes was his favorite song, says Crumley.
Paul, who died in November of 2001 after a four-year battle with a rare disease, also enrolled in several continuing education courses.
When Crumley's name was announced as the winner of the Chiles-Harrill Award at spring Convocation, Mark, her husband, Harold, and her brother, Frank, were there to help celebrate. But Paul was on her mind.
As the Singers closed the ceremony by performing Brown Eyes, Crumley was overcome with emotion. "The only regret I have about receiving this award was that Paul could not be there," she says. "He would have really enjoyed it."