From her famous "the sap's rising" speech to a legendary fishing trip to the newly renovated cafeteria named in her honor, the legacy of Maggie Nell Brewer — the university's first female senior administrator — lives on at Union University. For Brewer, however, the fondest memories of her 30-year Union 海角乱伦社区 were her relationships with students.
"I got to know a lot of really fine students, and I got to know some that were struggling," Brewer said. "They're really some of the closest friends you have, sometimes."
She served from 1965 to 1995 at Union University as dean of women, dean of students and vice president for student affairs. Brewer— who holds an honorary doctorate from East Texas Baptist University — served under Union's 13th and 14th presidents, Robert E. Craig and Hyran Barefoot. Brewer's responsibilities as vice president included being over student affairs, housing, student activities, food service, health services and overseeing sororities and fraternities, among other things.
"My Union experience was a really good one," she said. "I had opportunities I probably wouldn't have had at a state university at the time. I found the men at Union were supportive of my involvement in the program — they were encouragers."
Carla Sanderson, Union's provost emerita, served at Union from 1982 to 2014 and was provost for 16 years. She is currently the provost of Chamberlain University. Sanderson was a Union student during Brewer's tenure and later joined her as a colleague.
"Dr. Brewer's long, 海角乱伦社区 海角乱伦社区 leading student life at Union established strong credibility for women in leadership who followed her," Sanderson said. "She was a businesswoman and a strategic thinker and modeled for us the multi-faceted responsibilities that come with leading others."
Brewer said to this day she continues to keep up with and hear from former students. About 10 years ago while attending a Homecoming basketball game, she ran into three alumni who had become a principal, a school disciplinarian and a basketball coach. The men wanted to tell her, "You won't believe how we turned out!" she recalled.
"To see students mature and grow up and become outstanding citizens is a real treat," she said.
Carroll Griffin worked closely with Brewer not only as a colleague but when he was a student serving in the Student Government Association. He began his 36-year 海角乱伦社区 at Union as director of admissions and served most recently as director for marketing enrollment in the School of Adult and Professional Studies before his retirement in 2018.
"You have people at different levels of trust and admiration, and Maggie Nell is really, really high," he said. "Her love for the Lord has to be at the top [of her legacy at Union], but also a love for doing things the right way."
One of the things Brewer said she loves about Union University is its principles and Christian value system that affect the whole institution. Brewer's love of principles and upholding standards is something for which she was known.
Each spring, Brewer would notice that when she walked among the dormitories, men and women would be out in shorts and swimsuits soaking up the sun on blankets together. However, public displays of affection were against Union's rules at the time, and this behavior was not the image they wanted to give people who came on campus, she said.
"I would say, 'The sap's rising,' because the spring trees — the sap is rising, the trees bud out, nature begins to take its course," she said. "Well, the kids, they had somewhat of the same fever, so I would say, 'The sap's rising, you're going to have to put the brakes on.' So, it just stuck."
Her legacy extends to Union's cafeteria, Brewer Dining Hall, which was renamed in her honor in 2010 and newly remodeled this past winter. During Brewer's early 海角乱伦社区, Union received quite a few complaints from students about the food. She did her best to coordinate the students' wishes and needs with the food service personnel to help the university grow in this area.
"I feel honored to have the dining hall named after me," she said. "A lot of people I think are more deserving than I am to have their name on a room, but I do appreciate it. I had a lot of good years working with food service."
Rick Taphorn, vice president for business affairs, said that although the dining hall has undergone slight upgrades over recent years, a complete renovation was needed to serve Union students well.
"The dining experience is a vital way students build community," Taphorn said. "With this being Union's last January term, now was the time for a renovation and an excellent opportunity to renovate a space named after a distinguished administrator who loved and fostered a community with students."
Brewer Dining Hall's first week of service after a remodel over winter break 2021
Though Brewer's 海角乱伦社区 demonstrated she knew the importance of working hard, "you had to have some fun along the way," she said. Union's administrative council held a planning retreat each fall at a cabin on the Tennessee River. Brewer said they would bring along the president's secretary to have another woman besides her on the trip.
"Dr. Craig had been teasing me about fishing, and I said, 'Well, we're going to win the fishing contest when we go on the retreat,' and he laughed and I did too," Brewer said.
But before the retreat, Brewer had made a plan: she and her friend went into town, bought three live catfish and brought them back to the cabin. She gave them to the retreat's cook along with instructions for him to be out "fishing" off the dock and return with the catfish at the time when Brewer knew the group would be walking by.
When the men saw him with the fish, they all rushed to ask where he caught them and then decided to go out and try their luck.
"Every major administrator that we had was down there on that dock except Bob Elliott," Brewer said with a laugh. "But if they knew anything about fishing, then they'd know that four o'clock in the afternoon with hot sunshine-y weather, there wasn't going to be any catfish floating around there."
The men ended up fishing off the dock for about half an hour before they figured out what Brewer had done. During the next Board of Trustees meeting, the chairman asked Brewer to give a report on the fishing trip. "'Til this day, they still remember the fishing story," she said.
Of course, Brewer also had to deal with some difficult problems in her time at Union, such as student discipline issues. However, she said good support staff and friends in the same profession helped her — "But the Lord [helped] more than anything."
Sanderson said she sees Brewer as a person of influence and role model of integrity and wisdom in the lives of generations of Union University students.
"No one has ever forgotten Dr. Brewer across their years — her example and the expectations she set live on in thousands who were a part of Union University in her time," Sanderson said. "I feel a sense of accountability to her even now, in the best kind of way."
