This year, for his 10th Emory commencement, Cutts, a carpenter in Facilities Management, still came to campus early and began work about 5:30 a.m. A couple of hours into his work routine, however, Cutts left his post to join the procession of more than 1,000 Emory College seniors on their march to the quadrangle.
After taking his first Emory course in the spring of 1987, Cutts' walk across the stage to receive his sheepskin at the College diploma ceremony brought a sweet sense of validation and accomplishment.
More informal celebrations with friends and family had to wait, though. Immediately after the diploma ceremony, Cutts shucked his academic regalia and was back on the job once again. "It's not that anybody told me I had to do that," said Cutts, who took his Emory courses tuition-free through the Courtesy Scholarship program. "I just wanted to do that."
Shortly thereafter, in 1969, Cutts was drafted into the Marine Corps and sent to Camp Lejuene, N.C., where he worked in communications for two years. Although he was drafted at the height of the Vietnam era, Cutts said he "just lucked out" and wasn't sent to Vietnam. "I was busy keeping the enemy out of North Carolina," he quipped.
After his stint in the Marines, Cutts eventually started his own retail business, which was located in the former Piedmont Flea Market. "I had one of the biggest selections of herbs and spices in Atlanta at the time," said Cutts, who also sold dried fruits and nuts and potpourri. "I had a great business there that lasted about 10 years, but MARTA bought that property and tore down the flea market (to build the Lindbergh rail station). So I had to move to another flea market, which was not as successful."
At the new flea market, Cutts soon discovered that the vendor in the booth across from his owned a construction company. When Cutts eventually decided to close his business at the flea market, he got a job with that company doing construction work. Ironically, one of his first jobs was putting in sidewalks at the new Lindbergh MARTA station.
The construction business, however, did not provide consistent employment for Cutts, who was essentially out of work every time a job was completed. In late 1985, during one of those work lulls, Cutts came to Emory and applied for a job as a trades worker in the carpentry shop. He was promptly hired and promoted to carpenter about six months later.
Cutts had not chosen a major at DeKalb College and remained uncertain of that choice as he began taking courses at Emory. That is, until he took two psychology classes: Darryl Neill's Brain and Behavior course, and Steven Nowicki's course in Adult Abnormal Behavior. "That kind of swayed me to go with psychology," Cutts said. "They have a great department and great professors, and it's a very interesting subject. I wasn't planning on getting a degree in something that I was immediately going to run out and get a job in, because I've got a job that I like. I wanted to get a degree in something I liked."
Neill, professor of psychology, knows well the degree to which Cutts enjoyed his course work. "Tommy is a very good student," said Neill, who also guided Cutts in a series of directed readings in the psychopharmacology of depression this past year. "He had some good insights into the material. He's a smart guy." Neill also praised Cutts' ability to balance a full-time work schedule with day classes.
If supportive faculty members such as Neill were crucial to Cutts' academic success, the cooperation and support of his supervisor was absolutely essential. He found that support in Jack Scheu, supervisor of the carpentry shop, who scheduled Cutts' carpentry jobs around his class schedule. "I was pleased that Tommy wanted to pursue a degree," said Scheu, who said that to his knowledge, Cutts is the first employee in the Facilities Management shops to earn a degree at Emory while working full time. "I gave him all the encouragement I could, and we are all very proud of him."
--Dan Treadaway