Robin Lynn Sandler Clinard ’88
Robin has been teaching French at USN since 1997, but her connection to USN stretches all the way back to 1977, when she interviewed before becoming a student in second grade.
“I remember having to read out loud and my parents being there, but mostly I remember my little plaid outfit. I spent a lot of time picking it.”
Two experiences in high school forshadowed her future career. Her love of the French language took off after her teacher Sophie Sparks encouraged Robin to take part in a summer home stay in France. When Debbie Davies assigned Robin the task of running a class, she got her first taste of teaching. “I taught a lesson on infinity…. I really enjoyed it and realized how much more I learned because I had to prepare well enough to teach.” Robin has her own students lead classes.
After completing her M.A. and everything but her dissertation for her Ph.D. in French, Robin worked for a telecommunications company in Connecticut, where she translated their personnel manual into French. All the while, she was on the lookout for a teaching job.
Because she already spends so much time at USN, she hasn’t felt a great need to go to Reunions before. But, “I’ll go to this one....It's crazy that I am old enough to have graduated twenty-five years ago.”
One thing that might surprise her classmates when they gather is her passion for vintage swing dancing.
They will also be thrilled to meet Rick Clinard, whom she married on November 3. Though he doesn't share her love for the Charleston, he and her daughter Lilly—now a USN fifth grader—get along famously. “Both are really athletic and artistic. I am neither,” says Robin.
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Two experiences in high school forshadowed her future career. Her love of the French language took off after her teacher Sophie Sparks encouraged Robin to take part in a summer home stay in France. When Debbie Davies assigned Robin the task of running a class, she got her first taste of teaching. “I taught a lesson on infinity…. I really enjoyed it and realized how much more I learned because I had to prepare well enough to teach.” Robin has her own students lead classes.
During her senior year at the University of Rochester, a second taste of teaching convinced her that education was her calling. “They were one grad student short to teach some of the lower level French courses, so I got to fill in.”
After completing her M.A. and everything but her dissertation for her Ph.D. in French, Robin worked for a telecommunications company in Connecticut, where she translated their personnel manual into French. All the while, she was on the lookout for a teaching job.
Her big break came in the form of an email from her father. His office at Vanderbilt was next door to Kathy Hoover-Dempsey’s, whose husband Randy taught at USN. Randy knew of a position teaching French that had opened. Her dad took it upon himself to send her resume over to Randy. “One day I got an email from my dad letting me know I had applied for the job.”
She was thrilled to teach at USN, but figuring out what to call her former teachers was daunting. "I didn’t want to call them by their last names and wasn’t comfortable calling them by their first names. For a while there were a lot of people I greeted with just ‘hey’ and ‘hi.’”
She has gotten over her discomfort and truly enjoys working her colleagues. In particular, she has high praise for her fellow French teacher Richard Espenant. "I feel honored to work with him...he is fantastic."
She has gotten over her discomfort and truly enjoys working her colleagues. In particular, she has high praise for her fellow French teacher Richard Espenant. "I feel honored to work with him...he is fantastic."
Coming back to her old city was also good. “I wanted to move back to Nashville. I didn’t think like that when I graduated [from USN], but as an adult it is really nice to be back with family [and to] run into people I know around town.”
Because she already spends so much time at USN, she hasn’t felt a great need to go to Reunions before. But, “I’ll go to this one....It's crazy that I am old enough to have graduated twenty-five years ago.”
One thing that might surprise her classmates when they gather is her passion for vintage swing dancing.
They will also be thrilled to meet Rick Clinard, whom she married on November 3. Though he doesn't share her love for the Charleston, he and her daughter Lilly—now a USN fifth grader—get along famously. “Both are really athletic and artistic. I am neither,” says Robin.
