Page 8/The Battalion/Monday, September 5, 1988
Professors: More than physical likeness
Gillette brothers make A&M economic classes different, stimulating
By Kelly S. Brown
Reporter
Three offices away from each
other on the fourth floor of Har
rington Tower are two Texas A&M
economics teachers. Both have
brown hair, blue eyes and high ex
pectations of their students. One has
a mustache; the other wears glasses.
The differences between the two
are few, and the similarities seem
unending. If at first glance a person
doesn’t notice that they are identical
twin brothers, the connection be
comes unmistakable after hearing
their Virginian dialect.
Dr. J. Robert Gillette and Dr.
Lynn G. Gillette are known by stu
dents who take their economics
classes as high-geared, dynamic tea
chers who will send cold shivers up
and down an unprepared student’s
back.
One day in class Lynn asks a ques
tion about excessive monetary
growth. Eleven hands immediately
shoot into the air. They know class
participation is 10 percent of their
grade and they are required to earn
it.
He points to a girl he called on 15
minutes before, to whom he prom
ised a second chance after she could
not answer a previous question. She
still has her head down and is flip
ping through her notes in the back
of the room when he says, “Go. . . Go
. . .Take it,” pointing at her.
Silence lingers for a few seconds
before she quietly answers, “Infla
tion?”
Lynn imitates her voice. The stu
dents laugh. He stops pacing and
looks up at his students.
“Low self-esteem is the fault of
your parents,” he says. “If you are
against yourself how can anyone
help you? You have to do this for
yourselves and no one else.”
He shifts directly back into class
and calls on an eager student who
answers quickly.
Lynn replies, “Whoa . . . Wow . . .
No. Good incorrect answer. I wish I
could teach more by having people
say things wrong, so I could teach
from that.”
He crosses the front of the room,
his eyes focused on the ground, with
one hand in his pocket and the other
pointing at another student as he
says, “Take it, big guy.”
This student gets the right an
swer.
“Good-good-good,” Lynn says as
he turns quickly to the next question.
Freshman political science major
Danica Milios has had both Bob and
Lynn for economics classes.
“Both Dr. Bob Gillette and Dr.
Lynn Gillette push their students
very hard,” she says. “I can’t say
which is a better teacher because
they are both effective, talented tea
chers. There is a slight difference in
the way they teach, but the results
are the same.” '
Jana Shell, a sophomore environ
mental design major, was in Bob’s
introductory economics class last
spring.
“I think he is a well-reasoned and
electric teacher,” she says. “His ex
amples in class are not the boring
humdrum we usually hear from tea
chers, but then again, he’s not the
usual teacher. He uses anecdotes in
class that get the point across, relate
to us and will make us laugh.
“He was discussing the search be
havior of employers and employees
in labor markets and he explained it
like searching for a date, with the
costs and benefits involved, and we
could relate to that.”
Lynn says he and his brother are
serious about their teaching.
“Both Bob and I reveal our per
sonalities in class,” he says, “which ei
ther attracts some people or turns
some people off, but they do get
some feel for who we are. We are or
ganized, take class very seriously and
are extremely concerned with what
the students learn.”
Thomas Brown, a senior econom
ics major, was one of Bob’s students
last year.
“Dr. (Bob) Gillette is energizing in
class,” Brown says. “He paces back
and forth, one hand in his pocket
and the other in the air emphasizing
the words that shoot from his mouth
to the back of the room. His shirt
sleeves are rolled up to his elbows,
and he’s ready to delve into our
minds to pull out what we know.
“Sometimes I think he expects too
much of his students and it’s an un
realistic expectation.”
Bob says the love he and his
brother have for economics comes
through in the classroom.
“I don’t think Lynn or I restrict
ourselves in class,” Bob says, “so our
passion for life or our passion for
economics will come through, and
that’s sort of a motivational factor.
We are more than lecturers, we are
teachers. When I teach, I let my pas
sions show. In a sense I’m perform
ing, but not performing to the de
gree of letting my love for it slide.”
Never sitting still, Bob continues.
“It’s like if you’re telling someone
about a baseball game and you get all
excited about it when you tell them
about how your team won,” he says.
“Lynn and I are not afraid to occa
sionally show the students a little of
who we are, as opposed to just pure
intellect.”
Lynn and Bob teach according to
the socratic method — always asking
questions. They say they find it bor
ing just to present jplass material
without student participation.
Lynn says, “If you ask questions
but you are a bit ‘wifnpish,’ then class
doesn’t move quick enough and not
as much is covered.”
Derek Moore, a freshman eco
nomics major who took Lynn’s
classes for two semesters, says, “He’d
refer to himself as a ‘once-under-
graduate moron’ and call us that . . .
or worse. But he can do that and get
away with it. He’s in touch with his
students. He’d take the subject to
our level, take us through our level
and boost us up to a higher level
each day. It’s incredible; I don’t
know where he gets it.”
Bob and Lynn, 34, grew up in Vir
ginia farming country with their
older sister and parents.
When they weren’t in school they
usually could be found on the base
ball field. Both had serious goals of
becoming professional baseball play
ers.
Motivating them to achieve their
goals was their father, who was a
football and baseball coach as well as
a teacher and principal.
Lynn says, “Our father didn’t put
us in neutral, he put us in drive,
steered us and gave us goals.”
Bob says, “The fact our goals were
the same early on is not surprising,
given that we are identical twins.”
In college, both were on the
Dean’s List and lettered in intercolle
giate baseball. They agree that they
never have competed to be better
than the other.
Lynn says, “When it came time to
choose a college we made indepen
dent decisions on where we were
going to go. We both decided on the
University of Richmond, basically
because of the baseball program.
“We made independent decisions
on what fraternity to join our first
year and ended up in the same one.
Majoring in economics was an inde
pendent decision as well.
“Grad school was also an indepen
dent decision, and in 1975 Bob came
to Texas A&M, whereas I went to
the University of Kentucky for one
year then transferred here in 1976
because Bob was learning more
here, and the quality of grad pro
grams was much better. The fact
that we are both economics teachers
at the same school was never plan
ned,” says Lynn.
After attaining his Ph.D. in eco
nomics at A&M in 1981, Lynn
taught as a visiting professor at
Southern Methodist University.
During his first semester there, he
was selected by the students as one
of the top 10 teachers — out of the
450 faculty members — for teaching
excellence.
Lynn also received excellent tea
ching evaluations at the University
of Texas at Austin, where he taught
from 1981 until 1985.
“I would rather be at A&M than at
‘t.u.’ by leaps and bounds,” Lynn
says. “I got a little tired of dealing
with the dragworms day in and day
out; it got a little old. The average
student at A&M seems to have a little
more pressure from their parents,
more of a work ethic.”
Lynn left the University of Texas
to serve as assistant vice president
for academic affairs at James Mad
ison University in Virginia. After
one year, he returned to A&M as a
visiting assistant professor.
“It gets hard when you are told
and you believe that you’re very
good at something, just to walk away
from it,” he says. “So I had trouble
leaving teaching.”
Lynn says he doesn’t believe that a
career in academics necessarily
means little money. He also could
write textbooks and consult, he says,
although he does neither now be
cause of time limitations.
liattalion filepk:
Economics professors Bob Gillette and Lynn Gillette H n
I v
After Bob taught economics at
Washington State University for six
months in 1980, he moved back to
Texas and worked as the assistant di
rector for litigative economics at
RRC Inc. in Bryan.
He received his Ph.D. in 1986 and
began teaching at A&M since. Like
his brother, Bob also has received
outstanding teacher evaluations.
“I think students should raise ex
pectations of themselves,” Bob says.
“It’s not OK just to be OK. Mediocre
with anything is not OK. I have to
expect from them what they would
not. It’s what a motivating general
would do. Teachers are part motiva
tors. Sitting in class, I have to show
students to be all they can be educa-
tionwise.”
Lynn says, “An undergraduate
who has had Bob or me might say,
‘Yes, he will embarrass you. Yes, it is
intimidating, but he makes you
learn. Class is exciting and you will
make better grades.’ That’s what 1
want.”
Brian Harris, a sophomore aero
space engineering major, says he re
spects Lynn.
“If you’re against yourself, he is
against you,” Harris says. “He is a
sharp, hard-charging guy, but I
don’t think he understands why all
students can’t be like him and give
100 percent to everything.”
Bob says he thinks Lynn is a more
demanding teacher than he.
“I think Lynn is more intimidat
ing than I am,” Bob says. “Lynn is
more demanding and that’s good for
me. He keeps reminding me — am I
asking enough of my students? Of
myself?”
Lynn agrees that he has a harder
edge.
“Bob is not quite as hard,” Lynn
says. “Not as quick to cut someone
off, be rude, if necessary, or embar
rass someone as I would.”
Lynn pointed out another differ
ence.
“Bob is more dedicated to the
church than I am, although we are
both Christians, but other than that
there are not many differences when
comparing us to anyone else in the
world,” he says.
Bob says he and Lynn could l>e
closer but that their families are the
most important things in their lives
now.
“As an economist, theoretically, I
can truly come up with some neg
ative factors of being a twin, but the
net positive benefits are huge,” Bob
says. “It is the second-biggest bles
sing after my wife, Susanne.”
Bob was married last spring, and
Lynn has been married since his se
nior year in college.
“My loyalty is to my wife, Anne,
and my daughter, Jacqueline, and
Bob’s is to his wife, and rightly so,"
Lynn says. “No longer are Bob and I
the closest people in each other’s liv
es.”
Lynn’s wife is a graduate student
in the economics department.
Earlier in life, Bob says, he and
Lynn were mistaken for each other,
but they do not look as identical any
more. Bob is slightly smaller than
Lynn and has a mustache. Lynn
wears glasses and has a few gray
hairs among the brown ones.
But Lynn says, “Even now, about
twice a year one of us will call home
and l>c talking to our parent' 1
they won’t know who it is tajfi
our voices are similar."
Dr. Bhaswar Moitra, a projM
in the economics department I*
the basic difference betweenH
brothers is that Lynn is farmottiS
gressive than Bob.
“Bob is more laid back ariCiH
taxed, whereas Lynn is tnirtW
train guys who can go out arc9
gressively compete in the wotfl
world,” Moitra says.
Neither Bob nor Lynn haver®
free time these days.
Lynn says, “If I’m not uork:r|§|
teaching, which I am a great 4®
then I am spending my time®
Jacqueline and Anneoratck.il
Otherwise I have a tough time J||
nalizing.”
Bob spends most of his timei>9
ing and what little free timehiH
be enjoys spending with hiswitH
says.
"I want to be involved in
that make an eternal differenafl
cause Christ is what makes metA||
Bob says. “My wife and I wouldj
mately like to lx* missionariesifif
Fifteen years ago Bob and La
were both self-proclaimed “bcj
ing-hcart liberals” who could |
care less about businesses and 9
its, they say. They were headtiii
wards careers in baseball andil
Virginia.
In a classroom much like the
they teach in today, they were™
lenged by the analytical aspecti
economics. As they say, they’saJ
light’ and pursued instinct hadl
them to: teaching economics.
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