ALYSSA BUMP
Editor in Chief
Dr. Natalie Gerber is an English professor at SUNY Fredonia, as well as the director of the Honors Program.
Surprisingly, this career path in the humanities was strongly discouraged.
“My mom had forbidden me to major in English,” said Gerber. “So I did her one better and double majored in English and in film and broadcasting, and she hated it even more.”
Born and raised from a hardworking, middle-class family, Gerber grew up similarly to many Fredonia students.
She grew up in northern New Jersey with her parents and two brothers.
Her father was a pharmaceutical salesperson who also worked a second job on the weekends to help support their family.
Her mother started out teaching in NYC, but she left to be a stay-at-home mom for a number of years.
When she came back to work, “she taught at East Side High School, under Principal Joe Clark (who died recently) and who became famous from the film “Lean on Me,” based on his efforts to improve the school in Paterson, NJ,” said Gerber.
Gerber describes herself as the “black sheep of the family,” because her brothers went into the field of sciences while she decided to major in the humanities.
Because of her mother’s experience as an English teacher, Gerber was discouraged by her parents in pursuing such an aspiration.
She described her mother by saying, “She worked really, really hard to help students who were growing up with grandparents or guardians … she also helped students get into college and earn scholarships.”
Despite being able to help young people learn and grow, Gerber’s mother was underpaid, worked long hours and had to deal with some dangerous situations.
“She broke up a knife fight in the hallway once; there were shootings continuously,” Gerber recalled.
Despite her parents’ doubts and disapproval, Gerber managed to get a full-ride scholarship to Boston University.
Gerber then continued her education at New York University by earning her master’s degree.
“I was supposed to get my Ph.D. there, but I left after the master’s and worked for a year at the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation,” said Gerber.
The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation is a philanthropic organization that supports the arts, education and the environment to make New Jersey a better place.
The organization’s mission statement specifically mentions supporting poetry, which is one of Gerber’s main interests.
She then went back for her Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley.
Notably, each college Gerber attended has less than a 25% acceptance rate.
Gerber then went on to work for barnesandnoble.com in New York City, but saw a teaching position available here at Fredonia.
When she came to Fredonia for her interview, there was a horrible snow storm.
She ended up going to Professor Ted Steinberg’s house, where he was home eating dinner with his family on a Friday night.
“At that time, I was living and working in New York City, and nobody was home with their families. That ability impressed me,” Gerber explained.
She described Fredonia’s English department as “cohesive and really special.”
Gerber was hired in 2004, but since then she has also taken on other roles at Fredonia.
She can often be spotted on campus with her shoulder-length curly hair, thin-wired glasses and a large stack of books and papers in her hands.
Dr. Bruce Simon, a Fredonia English professor, department chairperson and University Faculty senator, has worked with Gerber since 2004.
“We’ve worked together closely on the Writers @ Work Alumni Writers-in-Residency Series — on which she’s been one of the main driving forces — since it began in Spring 2016,” said Simon.
According to SUNY Fredonia’s website, Writers @ Work, “brings Fredonia alumni with a variety of educational backgrounds, careers and accomplishments back to campus for a series of events.”
Simon described Gerber as “probably the hardest-working person” he knows. “She holds herself to very high standards as she juggles a schedule three people would find difficult to manage,” he said.
To add onto Gerber’s busy schedule, she has two daughters, Michaela and Rebecca, as well as a small Yorkie dog, named Lily Reese, with fluffy black fur and a fashionable pink sweater.
It is even evident to students that Gerber is a very busy yet hard working woman.
Sara Gorton, a sophomore video production major with a minor in visual arts and new media, had Gerber as her professor in her first semester.
Gorton is also an honors Student, and recalls that Gerber was “a helpful resource because she always supplied us with office hours if we needed them, as well as lots of information in regard to the Honors Program.”
Other students that have taken courses taught by Gerber have said anonymously on ratemyprofessor.com that, “Natalie is the sweetest, most caring teacher you will ever have,” and “Natalie Gerber is probably the smartest [professor] in Fredonia.”
Gerber is currently working on diversifying the Honors Program and increasing wellness.
She is proudest of “seeing something in students and pushing them … giving them the confidence and the skill set to reinforce it.”
As for advice she would like to give to current students, Gerber said calmly, “Life goes faster than you think. Don’t compromise your ambition. But be flexible.”
She continued, “Use your time at college, not only to take classes that you love, but to challenge yourself to expand your skill set in an area that’s practical.”
When Gerber was a college student, she felt as though she didn’t have many models of what she wanted to do.
“I was the first person in my immediate family to go for a Ph.D,” said Gerber.
She continued, “So I went to poems to figure out how to live … Lucille Clifton, the great American poet who also happens to be African American, which is very important, talked about not having role models.”
The poem Gerber is referring to is “won’t you celebrate with me” by Clifton.
The poet wrote, “won’t you celebrate with me / what i have shaped into a kind of life? / i had no model.”
Gerber said, “I want to help students here, especially because students here are not entitled. They don’t feel that something is owed to them.”