“I know I will miss the students here very very much,” Flo told me as we wrapped up the interview. After 37 years of being with Goucher, Dr. Flo Martin is retiring. Beloved by so many Goucher students, my last class with her was filled with tears. “…She is the best of Goucher,” her colleague remarked.
“Florence Martin, […] I go by Flo because I don’t like Florence.” Flo was born and raised in France, achieving her masters at the University of Sorbonne. After graduation, she taught English at a local high school while attending night school to pursue her PhD. Her research specialized in African-American studies and literature, specifically women’s literature and the intersections with classical blues. Eager to gain a better understanding, she told her advisor: “I need to go to the US.” At his recommendation, she took a position as a French teaching assistant abroad. Flo interviewed, and months later joined the Goucher community as a Faculty-In-Residence for our Language Special Interest Housing. Except, Flo only stayed at Goucher for a year, and took a position as a visiting professor at a university in Virginia.
Meanwhile, Flo stayed busy researching her passion, the blues. She traveled all over the US: “I drove all over, to New Orleans, Chicago, up the Mississippi River, interviewing people for the blues,” she explained. As a talented piano player, blues became integral in her life. “[I] would be listening to the blues and then say ‘I’m working, this is work’.” Her passion presented one limitation, “I was having a lot of fun and then I thought I need to go home otherwise I will never write my thesis.” She then returned to France, finishing her thesis and achieved her PhD. Shortly after, while she was working in Paris, Goucher called, offering her a full-time position. On the spot Flo replied, “Yes!”, “You can think it over.”, the Goucher representative replied. Flo didn’t need to think it over, she had missed the Goucher community and was ecstatic to return, “Nope, yes!” This call started her journey to becoming a tenured professor of French Transnational Studies.
Dr. Flo Martin was always embarking on adventures. Throughout her tenure, she took a variety of sabbaticals and grants. Including taking years away from Goucher to teach at the University of Boulder in Colorado and the University of Exeter in England. “I loved doing that kind of work.” Flo remarked on her guest teaching, “And coming back here [Goucher], it was a home.” Flo’s career at Goucher includes remarkable accolades. Flo was part of the core group that started Goucher’s peace studies program. On top of this, Flo organized many of Goucher’s study abroads, including the Arabic ICA with Dr. Zahi Ramiz, the Arabic Professor. The study abroad was based in Israel, as Zahi grew up in Nazareth. The ICA was the farthest thing from boring. The topic was the history of Arabic cinema. One day, they were traveling to Galilee to find revered filmmaker Mohammad Bakri. Flo’s in the driver seat, and Zahi is giving directions. “It’s beautiful,” Flo remembered, “…you can hear crickets and there are olive trees everywhere.” Unfortunately, they ended up a little lost. Zahi popped out to ask a local for directions to the filmmaker’s house. He then turned to translate them, “Flo I don’t know, they said, it is a house with biscuits.” Confused, Flo, Zahi and a bus full of Goucher students continue down the road. Sure enough, further down, a house with plaster detailing that resembled biscuits welcomed them to their destination. There, after a diverting journey, they had the chance to learn about celebrity Bakri’s remarkable career.
One reason that has kept Flo at Goucher for years, is the students. Every semester she’d remark, “…who the wind is going to blow my way this year.” She was always looking forward to the interesting students, perspectives and stories in her classes. “Goucher is the only place I’ve been where not a single student looks like the next. Not a single student thinks like the next one. And it’s fascinating to teach and to be with these students and learn more from them. It’s really been a privilege.” One of her favorite memories was an exchange with a student in her French poetry class. She made a comparison to Gerard Manley Hopkins, an intellectual and poet. Years later, a package showed up at her doorstep: the complete works of Gerard Manley Hopkins. In the package was a note from a previous student, “I now work in a publishing company, and I saw this book and thought of you. And thank you for introducing me to Gerard Manley Hopkins.” Seeing the impact and lasting connection her courses had on her students was a highlight. No matter what Goucher student the wind blows her way, “…it’s always been lovely,” she says.
“Goucher is the only place I’ve been where not a single student looks like the next. Not a single student thinks like the next one. And it’s fascinating to teach and to be with these students and learn more from them. It’s really been a privilege.” – Dr. Flo Martin
Reflecting on her accomplishments as a teacher, Flo shared her central goal. The “…mission of my particular teaching is to open the minds or to open new horizons to students. It can be in literature, in cinema, in whatever, in cartoons even, but it’s about other worlds. Other worlds that are so rich that, of course, we need to share them. It’s also about sharing, getting out of your comfort zone, and having empathy with others, whether those are three blocks away and not as privileged as you are, or whether it’s 5,000 miles away in the country that speaks another language.” She hopes her students will continue to explore our world, and not be afraid. “I feel like everybody is afraid. Don’t be afraid. The power is in your hands.” She continues, “Be true to yourself. If there’s something unfair, say so. Say so because the truth always wins in the end.”
“[The] mission of my particular teaching is to open the minds or to open new horizons to students.”
Flo’s next step is to join the Goucher Prison Education Program (GPEP) and continue her passion, teaching. “Teaching, I’ve been so amazingly lucky and privileged because I love it–it’s a passion–I mean what can I say? It’s like a hobby as well as a job and I’m paid to do it! Not well, mind you. Not well!” Even in retirement, Flo will continue to be an integral piece in Goucher’s community, all because of the blues. “So without the blues, actually, if you sort of look at it, I wouldn’t be at Goucher,” Flo concluded. “But it’s been really fun, so it’s really hard for me to let go. And I know I will miss the students here very very much.” Thank you for everything Flo, you will be dearly missed.
By Katherine (Kate) Wisneskey
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