Longtime BU Professor Mickey Pellillo Returns to the Classroom

Photos by Rampage student photographer Nathan LePere.

Students taking English courses at Bluefield University are enjoying the benefits of being taught by a seasoned veteran of the classroom, thanks to the return of longtime BU professor Mickey Pellillo, who has stepped out of retirement to teach again. 

Pellillo, a graduate of West Virginia University with a bachelor’s degree and Virginia Tech with a master’s degree, began teaching at Bluefield first in the fall of 1986. She served BU as an assistant professor of English and director of the Writing Center for 25 years before retiring in 2011.

During her time at BU, Pellillo taught traditional English courses as well as a handful of unique English classes. In fact, an avid hiker who has hiked the entire 2,175 miles of the Appalachian Trail, Pellillo co-developed and taught a nationally recognized innovative online inter-disciplinary course in English, art, science and outdoor recreation related to the Appalachian Trail.

“I couldn’t get any more innovative than an online hiking course,” Pellillo said in a 2004 interview with the Denver Post. Stories about the class were also published in the Washington Times, Mattoon (IL) Journal Gazette, and Wenatchee World.

As part of her teaching, she also presented writing workshops at conferences and seminars across the region. Outside of the classroom, she was active in a variety of service projects, including a medical mission with a group of BU students in Belize in Central America in 2009. In 2013 after retiring from BU, she joined the Boy Scouts of America in a service project designed to improve the local trail system and city park facilities in Bluefield. A breast cancer survivor, she has also served as a fitness and swim instructor and loves to run marathons.

In addition, Pellillo volunteers at the Wade Center in Bluefield where she is a therapy dog handler for her therapy dog Gabi. She has also served as chair of the Bluefield Recreational Trails Committee and a volunteer for the Bluefield Beautification Committee.

Pellillo returned to the BU classroom from 2015 to 2017 as an adjunct instructor of English. She’s back again this year bringing nearly three decades of teaching experience to BU students.

“Honestly, I had never really thought about returning to teaching until Dr. (Tracey) Stout (dean of the College of Arts and Letters) sent me an email last semester,” Pellillo said. “He said they were looking for someone to teach a few classes and that Wendy Beavers had suggested he talk with me. I have known Wendy since she was a student at Bluefield College. When she began teaching, we worked directly together for several years and became friends. And I have known Tracey for several years, so I agreed to come to the school and talk with him about the opportunity to help out.”

Pellillo said the thought of coming back made her excited about the opportunity to meet new people and to reconnect with others she had worked with in the past.

“Also, I am not a fan of winter,” she said, “and I looked forward to having a regular project to do as it turned cold and grey.”

Since Teams, Canvas and other new teaching tools were not in use the last time Pellillo taught, she said she’s had to spend some time getting used to new classroom technology.

“Learning Canvas has been quite a challenge for me,” she said. “I feel I have a pretty good handle on most of its aspects now – with a lot of support from Professor (Crystal) Kieloch. And the struggles with it have actually helped me support a couple of students in my online class who have had problems with technology.”

Pellillo is teaching two sections of Introduction to the Writing Process (ENG 1013) this spring — one in person and one online. Beyond that, she said she is just planning to do the best she can in the classroom and online for this semester, and she’s not sure what else the future holds.