Sharon Davis “What don’t I like to do?” responded Sharon Davis, smiling broadly – as always – in her tidy Hoover Building office. The professor of Sociology rarely fails to find joy in anything she does, inside or outside of her profession, evidenced by the smile perpetually stretched across her face. But the smile is only the beginning. A sense of welcome, comfort exudes from inside, intangible but instantaneously recognizable to those in her presence. Travel remains as the primary amplifier to Davis’ already healthy zest for life. “It feeds my soul,” she said. A lover of Europe, Davis has traveled to Ireland, France, London (28 times), Scotland, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia (Deep breath), Belgium, Holland, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Monaco, Italy, Switzerland, in addition to Mexico, Japan and Canada. Her affinity for traveling began with a haphazardly planned 10-to-12-day trip to Mexico City, Guadalajara, Cuernavaca, Acapulco and Taxco when she was 19. “We were just so dumb,” she said. “We were so naïve. But it was just magical. I knew then there was going to be a long and happy association between me and traveling.” After that, Davis would save up for a trip every three years. Then, when she started making more money, she would go twice a year, then once. Now, as a full professor, she sometimes makes it out two or three times a year. This year, she’s already gone to Ireland, will be leaving for Oaxaca in two days and is hoping to go to Turkey with her “travel buddy.” As a sociologist, Davis takes particular interest in studying the architecture and the markets, among many other aspects of the different cultures. “What do people put in their bodies? What’s inside of them? How do they treat women? What people leave behind, what people live with,” she said. “I can look back at America with a more objective view,” she said. “By understanding others, I better understand myself. And it helps me be less egocentric and ethnocentric. And I think those are good things not to be.” This amiable vagabond’s incessant wandering has also helped mold her interest in languages, of which she speaks four: English; French – partially the result of six formal years of training; Spanish; and Greek, partially the result of her six-month stint as a teacher there. The cosmopolitan Davis also admits a penchant for music, both performing and listening. For the last four semesters, she has worked diligently to rid herself of a fear of singing in public through the help of Scott Farthing. “I’m almost ready for my debut,” she said. “Almost.” However, she took a generous step in absolving this fear this year while in Ireland. At a pub in Killarney, a member of the band was inviting patrons up to the stage to sing – most of them non-Irish women. Davis happened to be in that group. She said the band member issuing the invitations noticed that Davis knew the words and sounded OK, so “I was handed the mic and got to sing to the pub.” “I’m getting better,” she said. “I’m still not at the point where I’m comfortable singing a solo, but I’d love to sing a duet.” But her connection to music began well before coming to the University of La Verne. In fact, it began before she was born, with her dad, a violin player. Given the chance to pick up an instrument in third grade, Davis wanted to be like her dad, so she picked up the violin. “He had his old violin floating around and I said, ‘I want to play that too. I want to be like my dad,’” said the high school assistant concert mistress. So she joined her elementary school orchestra: “It was really cool,” she said. “I got to get out of class once a week. And I’m sure we sounded absolutely atrocious, but I just loved it, so I’ve stuck with it.” In fact, elementary school seemed to be the catalyst that has helped forge a few of Davis’ long-time hobbies. As an after-school activity, she also picked up tap dancing. “It was one of those things where, what do you do with yourself as a kid?” she said. “I never liked ballet. I liked tap. And, man, I was good at tap. It just came natural to me.” Although “semi-retired” now, so she said, Davis performed for years and even taught tap dance. Recently, she’s picked up Appalachian mountain clogging, her “latest reincarnation,” although she had to drop it because the teacher stopped teaching. “Something where you pound your feet on the ground,” she said. “I’ve always liked making noise.” THE PROFESSOR As for students, she simply asks for students that will work hard and open the book and read. She told of one student that seemed bright but couldn’t do well on his first two tests. Then, his third test grade skyrocketed, simply because he cracked his book. Also, “I don’t teach just to the brightest of the students,” she said. “I want to be inclusive.” She says her students generally say she’s difficult. “I don’t think that’s true,” she said. “I think that’s an urban legend. I don’t think my reputation is entirely earned.” But Davis will accept it if that’s how the students see her: “Hard, but fair and interesting, that’s how I would describe my reputation.” RETURN TO FACULTY LISTmailto:daviss@ulv.edu?subject=HELLOHome.htmlshapeimage_1_link_1
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