Thom Simmons, J.D. - Advisor to the Business Club, Co-Chair of the Business Department, and Economics Professor
Between classes, advising the business club at G.C.C, participating and contributing to the community's economic dialog, and running his own business, Thom Simmons has a full plate.
Thom first discovered the joys of teaching while living on Martha's Vineyard. While living there, he was the administrator of the Planning and Economic Development Commission from 1990-1998, using his education in economics in a practical and applied way. Today he is a professor of economics at Greenfield Community College, as well as the co-chair of the Business Department and advisor to the Business Club.
"There's this caricature of economics professors as these people who stand at the board and mumble about numbers. It's not about dry and boring and numbers, it's about everyday choices in life. I love being able to show students that."
Thom has been teaching at GCC since 1998 and has since been enriching the lives of students from all reaches of the school.
Thom's favorites
- Movies: "Cause-oriented movies. Sweeping epics. Braveheart, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Gladiator…"
- Music: "I'm eclectic. I'm the lead in a professional a capella quartet, we do barbershop, doo-wop. When I go out, it's classic rock, southern rock, and of course Celtic music. I'm a Broadway Musical nut. I'm a New York City boy."
- Books: Song of Albion series by Stephen Lawhead
When he came to Greenfield, he revived the Business Club. One of the more active student organizations on campus, the Business Club is open to all students from every department that express an interest in business. One of their biggest accomplishments to date is the creation and operation of Café Academia.
"The beginning and expansion of Café Academia was huge. When we first got into it, there was no food service in the East Building. We were told we would never be able to do it. Everyone had a dozen reasons why we would never get it up and going, and I don't take ‘no' for an answer. And I tell my students never ask ‘can' I do something. Ask ‘how can it be done?' ‘What is the objection?' ‘Who makes this decision?' ‘How can this be overcome the problem?'"
Now the Café is a convenient location to grab coffee, salads, soups, sandwiches, pizza, pastries, and other tasty concoctions. The biggest inspiration for starting the café?
"I'm a coffeeholic," Thom says solemnly.
Coffee devotees can now get their fix from 7:30 am to 2 pm during the fall and spring semesters in the front room of the East Building. Although you might buy your coffee out of necessity, you might not know that 95% of the profits made by this business are spent towards sending fifteen to twenty students on a four day all-expenses-paid trip to New York City once a year to study business in a hands-on way in one of the largest financial epicenters in the world. The other 5% of gross receipts goes back into the school in the form of scholarship money.
In speaking about the Business Club, Thom sounds like a proud parent, listing the accomplishments of his students.
"We competed against fourteen four-year schools across New England a year and a half ago and took first place in entrepreneurship in New England. We were the only two-year school in the competition, so we're really proud of that. We also have some students who try to start their own businesses. In the last three years, we have had ten or eleven students win a total of $17,000 in prize money in Western Mass from the Greenspoon Foundation."
Thom's dedication and pride in his student's accomplishments is part of what GCC prides itself on. Simply put, the attention and time the teachers commit to their students makes Greenfield Community College feel less like a public school and more like a small private school. Teachers know students by name, know what is going on in their lives and work very hard to help them achieve their goals.
"I find at GCC the students really care and want to learn. They're working jobs while they're putting themselves through school," Thom says.
Not only has Thom Simmons helped students start their own businesses, he recently started up his own business, the Ceilidh House on Route 12 in West Moorland (just past Keene), New Hampshire. He describes it as an Irish and Scottish music hall with a lot of events that are Celtic in nature, live music every Saturday, and karaoke of Friday nights.
"I'm extremely proud that I'm not just speaking about business principles in general, but putting them into operation and watching them work."
Profile by Meghan Wicks