Roller coasters have been a part of Charla Long’s life for many years.
Though no longer in the theme park industry, Long says her job as dean of the College of Professional Studies is “a roller coaster every single day.”
Long, who previously worked with Silver Dollar City, Disney and Premier Park (which owns Six Flags), said the service mindset that was reinforced during her 10-year stint in the theme park business still influences the work she does.
“I think that when you have a service mentality, that never leaves you whatever occupation you have,” she said. “I’m all about, ‘what’s in the best interest of students, how can I better serve my students, how can I show genuine hospitality?’ That’s something that I’ve certainly learned as a Christian. That’s a faith calling for me, but certainly I had that reinforced at Disney. Although they’re not a faith-based company, we had a lot of common tenets about how we treat people.”
Long taught in the College of Business from 2002-2003 before moving to Wisconsin with her husband, Allen, who was working with OshKosh B’Gosh at the time. After 18 months teaching employment law at the University of Wisconsin, Long said she felt drawn to return to Lipscomb.
“I really missed the opportunity to serve in a different way at Lipscomb,” Long said, “although I love a public education environment because I’m light there. Students don’t seek you out for light here like they do at a public institution. They were always in my office for personal problems because they had no one to talk to. Here we don’t get that as much because we’ve got great support services. But being a female on this campus in an area which was predominately male was a really great opportunity to stretch the church and this university, and it’s what drove me to return here.”
Long, who has a law degree from Oklahoma City University, taught at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Mich., about “laws impacting the hospitality industry” right after law school. In addition to her experiences in higher education and the theme park industry, Long led the “meetings department” for Apple Computer, planning events, meetings and trade shows. She also has managed travel expenditures for well-known companies such as Mobil Oil and Microsoft.
During her time in the College of Business, Long co-taught a course with President Randy Lowry. Long said they discussed what contributions she could make to the university.
“We had an opportunity to talk about his aspirations for the university and found some common ground in things that I could do to help advance the university that were consistent with his vision,” Long said.
The two decided to create the Institute for Law, Justice and Society and establish Long as its founding director.
“It really was all about how we engage students on social justice issues while teaching the legal foundation,” Long said of the institute’s mission, “How do we use the legal system to help influence social change while giving students a different kind of academic experience?”
Long, a mother of four, said she thinks higher education could take a few lessons from the amusement park industry by being more “experiential based.” She said faculty members should ask themselves, “How did I create an experience today that’s going to leave students transformed for tomorrow?”
Long believes everyone has a story. She shares part of hers displayed on a plate in her office.
“I think that’s why the Law, Justice and Society department is so unique … because it’s so experiential based. I’m not going to stand up and lecture. We’re going to go do. And while we’re doing, I can talk to you and teach you the theory, teach you the stuff that I could have told you in a classroom but you have a new appreciation for when you’re working with the homeless or when you’re talking to somebody who’s been rescued from slavery. You get it in a different way because you experienced it.”
Long said she loves working with college students because of the changes that take place at that stage of life.
“There’s something about that 18-22-year-old range that is really exhilarating,” Long said. “I went through a spiritual journey at that time in my life. I love to watch that unfold. I love to help people discover who they are, not because that’s what their parents wanted but because they wanted it.”
Four pieces of advice for students
1. “You never know who is the baby sister.”
Long said she once complained to a boss about a co-worker only to later discover that the woman she had complained about was the boss’ younger sister.
“I think that it was a good reminder for me that we’re all part of God’s family, and we all bring different gifts and talents to the table,” she said. “Sometimes we don’t see in others as quickly what God saw when he created them. I think we have to look for the blessings, the giftedness that each person can bring to a situation. That was a big lesson for me early in my career.”
2. “I think it’s also really important to protect your reputation.”
Long said she thinks she’s learned one good way to do that.
“I tend to be a very direct person, hopefully tempered with the right amount of tact,” she said. “I think that’s one way you can preserve who you are and who people know you to be. I think it’s really important that you address those things that can have an impact on your reputation, on your integrity and on the way people view you.”
3. “Find what you’re passionate about and pursue it with all you got.”
Long said she believes people who ignore their passions are setting themselves up for a life of “mediocrity, maybe misery.”
“I believe God gave you that passion, and he gave it to you for a reason,” she said. “A lot of times we’re tempted to fit in to what our parents might think or what our spouse might want, and we suppress what our passions are within us. That is a disservice to God.”
4. “Choosing a mate is really, really important.”
Long said too often she sees students who rush into marriage.
“Don’t feel pressured to do that until God’s got you prepared and your mate prepared,” she said. “In a partner, there’s no ‘pretty good’ fit. It’s perfect. And sometimes you have to wait, and don’t let yourself let a ‘pretty good’ become what you get.”
“I have an awesome marriage, but if I had married the person in college that I thought I was supposed to marry, oh my gosh, it would have been awful,” she continued. “You just have to be patient.”