Dr. Brian Bates, associate professor of anthropology, department chair of sociology, anthropology and criminal justice studies, and director of the Longwood Archaeology Field School, tells his students the same story on the first day of class every semester. He reveals how he can never sleep well the night before the first day of classes. Bates said, "Early on it was because I was nervous. Now, I'm just trying to think through the day."
Bates stays awake wondering how his first day of classes is going to go and whether he is prepared enough for it. "I think this is a good thing because it shows that I still want to do the best job that I possibly can. In the past 18 years I've been teaching at Longwood, I've never once had a day when I woke up and thought, 'I don't want to go to work.' So, if I sleep really well the night before the first day of classes, that's my first clue that it is time for me to find something else to do."
Bates graduated from Buckingham County High School in 1986. Bates met Professor of Anthropology Dr. James Jordan while he was just a senior in high school. Bates said, "Dr. Jordan came and did a presentation in a club that I was in at Buckingham High School on archaeology. From then on I started communicating with him and I actually took an anthropology class here at Longwood the spring semester of my senior year."
Jordan was thrilled to find Bates in his introductory class he was teaching that semester. Jordan described Bates as a sincere and dedicated student who was always willing to offer a helping hand. Jordan stated, "He always knew how to fix things. If the coming ice age comes and all the electricity goes off and the water and sewage don't work anymore, Brian Bates is the guy I'd want to be with."
As for teaching, Jordan said, "I think it's the most important thing in the world to him. He will never walk into class and just talk. He brings stuff and lays it right out in front of his students. I see the things I do that he has picked up. It's gratifying to see tricks of the teaching trade in him."
Rachel Foster, a junior at Longwood, has showed a stronger interest in anthropology classes after being one of Bates' students. She said, "He took the time to help me out in his spare time to fully explain something so I understood it better. He made class interesting and encouraged speaking up in class instead of just lecturing us the entire time."
However, when Bates first finished high school, he did not go to Longwood immediately. Instead, he worked for a few years. He said his parents really wanted him to go to college. "I thought I knew more than they did and was kind of like, 'Well, the heck with that, I'm going off to make a living.' Two years later I decided to go to Longwood."
Bates graduated from Longwood College in 1992 with a degree in anthropology and political science. He received his master's degree and Ph.D at the University of London. He has also been a member of the Toga Volunteer Fire Department since 1988, ran for U.S. Senate last year and up until January 1, he was on the Board of Supervisors for the past 12 years. His wife, Michelle, doesn't think he knows how to relax. Bates said, "I don't handle downtime very well. I have to be doing something."
When Bates first started at Longwood, he wanted to be an engineer and fly airplanes. After his first semester, he realized adding and subtracting wasn't really his piece of cake and taking the course with Jordan made him change his mind. That's when Bates switched his major from pre-engineering to anthropology.
Bates said when he was deciding where to go to college, he did not really want to go to a large school such as Virginia Tech or the University of Virginia. He said, "I liked the small size of Longwood. I came from a small school division in Buckingham, so its size and character suited me just perfectly." Jordan and Bates share an amazing relationship together. The two professors have had a student-to-teacher relationship and co-worker-to-co-worker relationship. Bates stated," It's a great friendship. Dr. Jordan has had a tremendous influence on my life. He even officiated at my wedding four years ago."
When Bates described his student-to-teacher relationship he has with Jordan, he said, "It's the exact type of relationship that we think of at Longwood when we comment on the small size of the school and classrooms and say that it's a great way to be close with professors and not be just a number."
