Dr. Tunis Romein
1992 Excellence in Teaching Award Recipient

Dr. Tunis Romein grew up in Due West, SC, home of Erskine College, where his father was a philosophy professor. He received a B.A. degree in English with minors in philosophy and music from Erskine and an M.A. in English and American Literature from the University of Georgia. He finished his graduate work at the University of Texas--Austin, where he earned a Ph.D. in English Literature with minors in Philosophy and American Literature. After finishing graduate school, Dr. Romein joined the English Department at Charleston Southern University.

Speaking of what influenced him to become a teacher, Dr. Romein said, "My parents are largely responsible for the affinity that I have for teaching today. They were strong role models, my own first and best teachers."

His parents started teaching him about music, reading, nature, and Christianity well before he started school. He feels comfortable in an academic environment because he has spent almost all of his life on college campuses as a "faculty brat," a student, and a professor and because of his natural desire to share things that interest him with others, "whether they want me to or not."

Dr. Romein believed that students should do plenty of writing, both inside and outside of class. He assigns as many or more writing assignments to his sophomores and upper-division students as to his freshmen, using these writing assignments to encourage students to take independent positions and reason them out. Dr. Romein believed that all college students can become competent writers if they get enough practice.

Dr. Romein passed away in 2009.