"I owe you an education."
This is the mantra of Master Chief Petty Officer Jim Stringer, who teaches public relations here at The University of Memphis.
Stringer is in his third semester teaching Introduction to Public Relations, and students say they like what they hear.
"He's a dynamic teacher who cares about the students," said Kristen Jolley, a 19-year-old sophomore majoring in public relations. "I looked forward to coming to class."
Jolley said she was a broadcast news major and wanted to learn more about the public relations field. She said she took the class Stringer taught last semester and said his enthusiasm for the subject captured her interest and got her excited about the field.
Stringer, a Master Chief Journalist, has been in the Navy since 1965 and has been on both active duty and in the Reserves. He has seen two tours of duty in Vietnam where he was a machinist's mate on the the USS Belknap, a guided missile cruiser. After his tour of duty was finished, he decided to use his GI bill to get his degree in business administration at what was formerly known as Memphis State.
"I went into public relations," Stringer said, "because I always had this energy and enjoyed communicating with people."
"(Stringer) really taught us what we needed to know," said Lindy Shockley, a senior majoring in public relations. "Without a bunch of useless information."
Shockley said Stringer was fair and gave everyone an equal opportunity to learn. She was so impressed by his teaching abilities she nominated him for an award.
After graduation, Stringer embarked upon his career as a journalist at the Millington Naval Air Station as the public affairs officer. Another job was to open the Naval Reserve Readiness Command, where he developed newsletters and improved communications for reservists.
Stringer said he now works as a research assistant for the Navy's Quality of Life program.
Michael Schwerin, a research psychologist and colleague of Stringer's, said he is amazed by Stringer's ability to do multiple tasks and do them well.
"He has the ability to take my scientific needs and relate them to my navy customers," Schwerin said.
Stringer was recruited by Rick Fischer, associate professor of journalism, to teach at The U of M, where he is now in his third semester.
Stringer said the challenge of teaching is to take a subject and relate it to real-time issues.
"The goal," Stringer said, "is to make sure what they learn is what they can practice."
