Allen Roberts: From Journalism to Teaching
Allen Roberts is an assistant professor and chair of graphic communication at Bluefield College. In addition to his teaching, he handles various multi-media duties around campus. He went to Concord University and graduated in 2002 with a bachelor’s degree in graphic design, and he earned his master’s degree in integrated marketing communications online through West Virginia University in 2017. Roberts is married and has two daughters, ages 10 and 3. He is originally from Pikes Fork, which is not far from Bluefield.
His Story
Roberts said his love for design has always been a part of him. When he was a kid, he was fascinated with logos and packaging.
“My favorite part of childhood vacations was getting on an interstate and seeing the exit signs with all the restaurants coming up,” he said, “and they’d have all the different logos of Burger King and whatever on the signs. I loved that.”
Roberts realized that design was something he was interested in during his junior year of high school. He said he had been cutting pictures out of other magazines to create his own magazine layouts. In high school, he had always been one of the artists. Junior year he entered a contest to create a mascot for East Bay Catalogs, and they chose his drawing out of 3,800 entries. Until he won the contest, he had never stopped to think that design could be a profession.
“In the brain of an artist or a designer, I think there is something there,” Roberts explained. “Sometimes you realize it; sometimes you don’t. Sometimes maybe it takes a class to pull it out of you.”
After graduating from Concord University with a Bachelor of Arts in Graphic Design, Roberts worked as an editor at the Bluefield Daily Telegraph. His original plan was to only be there for a year or so to pad his resume, but he ended up working there for seven years.
“The Daily Telegraph got me deep into journalism, which is not a field I ever thought I would be in,” he said.
At the newspaper, Roberts proof-read, designed the layout, and did some writing. He said that newspaper life is very hard, and there is not much room for a social life. After his eldest daughter was born, Roberts was looking for something more stable, so he went to work at WVVA-TV, which ended up being even more of 24/7 job.
“It was very stressful, but I wouldn’t trade that experience for anything,” Roberts said. “Just the pressure of working under deadlines in the news business has been so invaluable to me.”
Before Roberts started working for WVVA, Bluefield College was in need of a graphic design instructor. It was a unique opportunity that Roberts believed God was calling him to at least try, so he did.
During the four years Roberts worked at WVVA, he also worked part-time at Bluefield College. He started teaching two classes, Photoshop/Illustrator and photography. He was spending his lunch breaks at WVVA teaching the photography class, and he was teaching Photoshop/Illustrator as a night class.
“I took a semester off, and I really started to miss it,” he recalled.
Now as a full-time professor at Bluefield College, Roberts enjoys being back in the design world again. While working at the newspaper and TV station, Roberts was deep in journalism. Now he gets to live vicariously through students and do creative things around campus.
Teaching Graphic Design
Roberts said that there was something so much more fulfilling and rewarding for him about influencing students’ lives, rather than working in journalism. Seeing students grow and being a part of that growth is his favorite part of being a professor. He also said that being around college students all the time makes him feel young.
Out of all the classes he teaches as the only graphic communications professor at BC, Roberts said that typography is his favorite. However, if you had asked him during his first few years at the college, he said it would have been at the bottom of the list. In fact, Roberts quit for one semester when he was part time because typography was on the schedule. His hesitation was mostly because of his college experience with typography, which he didn’t feel like he had the time to replicate. Now he says it is his favorite to teach, partly because it is something the students get excited about.
Roberts’ advice to students is to appreciate the detours. He said it is easy to feel like it is a negative or that you aren’t where you wanted to be. The experiences you pick up in the detours in life, he added, are valuable. This applies not just to careers, Roberts said, but also to life in general.
The example he used was that he had recently been on a road trip and had taken a detour through a small town to avoid some construction. He got to see some interesting buildings and places because of his detour.
“I would have never seen [the small town] if I would have just stayed on that straight path,” observed Roberts.
Interests
Anyone who has had a class with Roberts has probably heard him mention Mr. T (a TV personality known for his distinctive hairstyle) at least once. Roberts said that Mr. T is a hero of his. In his office, Roberts has quite a few Mr. T collectibles and other similar items.
“To be creative, you surround yourself with creative things,” he explained.
In the spare time that he isn’t spending with his daughters, Roberts also enjoys 3D printing and collecting old VHS tapes.