Meet DonnaMarie Girouard

DonnaMarie Girouard was working part-timeat Old Navy while teaching at Davidson County Community College when she met Livingstone College professor Da’Tarvia Parrish.
 

“I was actually at the register that particular day when Da’Tarvia came to my line,” Girouard said. “She made a comment about teaching, which prompted me to tell her that I teach as well. We realized it was serendipity when we discovered that we both taught English. She basically recruited me right then and there.
 

“The consensus is that I’m supposed to be here at Livingstone College, just as it seems I’m supposed to be here in North Carolina,” Girouard continued. “I’m very happy here. It definitely feels like home to me.”
 

Girouard, an instructor of English at Livingstone College, was working as an adjunct professor at DCCC when she was “found” by Parrish. She teaches English Composition I, English Composition II and Speech at Livingstone. She also teaches Oral Communication, a class she developed and taught for the College’s Bridge Program that she will teach again this summer to Bridge students. Additionally, Girouard will teach creative writing in the fall.
 

Girouard, who is of Irish descent, joined Livingstone’s faculty in January 2010. She’s glad to be here.
 

“I love being able to get to know my students and colleagues,” Girouard said. “When I drive onto the campus and I hear my kids yell “Ms. G!” it makes my day. That kind of bonding doesn’t always happen at other schools, particularly at community colleges where instructors very seldom get to know their colleagues, let alone their students.
 

“Here at Livingstone, it’s a good feeling to know our students really care about us as much as we care about them,” Girouard continued. “They’re certainly not a number here as they would be at some larger schools, and it all helps to foster a good sense of camaraderie. I have an open-door policy with my students and am in my office a great deal more than just during my office hours. I’m there for the students even if they just want to say hi.”

Dr. Leroy Simmons, Vice President of Academic Affairs, said Girouard began working at Livingstone College as an adjunct professor but because of the passion she brought to the classroom soon became a full-time faculty member.
 

“Instructor Girouard displays exactly what we look for in terms of a ‘missionary spirit,’ ” Simmons said. “She has a true commitment to our students that shows in the way she teaches in the classroom and in her willingness to go that extra mile for them.”
 

Girouard said she was attracted to Livingstone’s close-knit community atmosphere, in part, because when she first started teaching in 1991 she taught at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla., a four-year institution with about 2,400 students.
 

Even though Girouard has worked in corporate accounting, retail and small business management, says she was born to teach.
 

“I believe that teachers are born,” Girouard said. “It’s a passion that one either has or does not have. When I’m in front of a class I get completely caught up in what I’m doing. It’s a ‘high’ like no other.”
 

Girouard has a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from Westfield State College in Westfield, Mass. She also has a Master’s Degree in English from Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton. She is presently enrolled in the Master of Fine Arts Creative Nonfiction program at Converse College in Spartanburg, S.C.
 

When she’s not teaching, Girouard enjoys spending time with her husband, Scott. She doesn’t get to spend as much time as she’d like with her daughter, Chloe, 25, a tattoo artist in Massachusetts who designed all of Girouard’s tattoos and implemented most of them. But mother and daughter are close.

Girouard, a vegetarian who has three cats and a dog that are all rescue animals, has several hobbies including working with her husband on the 1923 Arts and Crafts style home they purchased online in 2008.
 

“When I’m not teaching or writing I’m working on home improvements,” Girouard said. “That’s anything from painting and staining to floor sanding and stenciling to making curtains and chair cushions.”
 

Girouard, an avid reader, just finished “Memories of a Catholic Girlhood,” by Mary McCarthy. She said her colleagues would be surprised to know she’s distantly related to singer/songwriter George M. Cohan, whose life and music were depicted in the 1942 Academy Award-winning movie, “Yankee Doodle Dandy.”
 

“Like many Irish people I have an affinity for the motherland, Ireland,” Girouard said. “Even though I’m fiercely patriotic and loyal to the United States, my dream is to visit Ireland someday to see the county/town where my ancestors lived and to visit Scotland, the country that gave birth to some of my favorite writers, including Robert Burns, Robert Louis Stevenson and Sir Walter Scott. My secret wish is to learn to play the bagpipes and to learn the Irish jig.”