A wise person once said, “What appears to be the end may really be a new beginning.”  For a man who just started his career as the Dean of Math and Sciences, giving a last lecture might seem a little odd.

   Morris Bramlett will do just that as the guest speaker of the Journalism Club’s third installment of the Last Lecture Series Tuesday, Nov. 27 at 7 p.m. in the Memorial Classroom Building. The Journalism Club hosts the event as a fund-raiser to improve the student publications on campus and will charge $2 with a UAM identification card or $3 without an ID card.

   Although this won’t be Bramlett’s actual end as a lecturer, he will be speaking on new beginnings and following your passion when deciding on a career.

   Bramlett followed his passion when he became a chemistry professor in 1991, nurturing a seed planted within him back in middle school. Bramlett said his science teacher, Loyal Smiley, told him he should become a teacher, but Bramlett said he thought he was nuts. Years later, Bramlett said he could not see himself doing anything but teaching.

   “If you have a student that suddenly sees the light and understand something, there is no better feeling in the world,” Bramlett said. “Chemistry is a difficult enough area that students do struggle with it. If I can get a student to understand a difficult concept to the point where they can apply it; just the look of joy they have of ‘Hey, I got it.’ Nothing beats that.”

   Bramlett’s teaching career actually began when he was still a student at Arkansas Tech. During his first year of college he majored in art and jokes that he picked the major because it had the shortest line at registration.

   Although he majored in art he took mostly math and science courses. After realizing he had an aptitude for chemistry Bramlett changed his major. During his senior year as an undergraduate he took an education course that led him to Russellville High School to observe a chemistry lab.

   The chemistry professor at RHS told him you observe better from the front of the room, and his teaching career began at that moment.

   “Literally my second day there he let me teach class, and it went very smoothly,” Bramlett said. “In fact it went so smooth that he let me teach the rest of the semester.

   “I can’t say it was the only moment, but that was a big moment that made me realize that was what I wanted to do.”

   He went on to graduate school at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville where he taught every semester and followed a path that led him to the University of Arkansas at Monticello.

   Bramlett said he was scared during his doctorate about finding a place he liked with the lifestyle he wanted to teach at. He grew up in what he calls the “backwoods of Arkansas” in a small town 20 miles outside of Clinton and wanted to live in a place larger, but with the same ideals.

   He said he found all of it with his first job at UAM and became a professor the students could relate to and a favorite among his peers.

   “Honestly I think part of that is if you look at students and look at me, we have a very similar background," Bramlett said. “I grew up in a farming family. My dad was a logger and a farmer. That’s just like almost every kid here at UAM. People tend to like the people they relate to. I really think that’s a lot of it, and maybe I’m entertaining. I don’t know, but I don’t think I’m a very entertaining teacher.”

   During his 16-year career at UAM Bramlett won many honors, including the UAM Faculty Excellence Gold Award; twice. Before becoming the Dean of Math and Science, he worked as a professor of chemistry, pre-pharmacy adviser and NCAA Faculty Athletics representative. He also served on the University Safety Committee and Athletic Committee.

   With all of the honors and positions he has held, he said he wants to be known for one thing, a beginning that isn’t necessarily his own. He said he wants to be known for his daughter.