By Kaitlin Bain
Returning to Texas Tech University this school year marked a new step in an almost 20-year journey for Heath Tolleson, the journalism adviser at the College of Media & Communication.
He first came to Texas Tech in 1997 as an undergraduate studying public relations. He stayed until 2003, when he decided to put more time into his music career and tour the southeast United States.
“I was [touring] for about four and a half years, and then decided I was really a family, home-body type and really missed my father for some reason,” he said. “Long story short, I finished up my undergrad at West Texas A&M, but I’m doing my graduate school here at Tech right now.”
Tolleson, a native of Gruver, a small town at the top of the Texas panhandle, does not match small-town stereotypes, said Hannah Hipp, a senior journalism major from Boys Ranch.
Heath said much of his childhood was spent riding a tractor and working with cattle. Photo illustration by Kaitlin Bain.
Not only does he dress in a “hipster” style, she said, but he has also had many unique life experiences typically not found in small towns.
“I would have to attribute a lot of that to my folks,” Tolleson said. “They always allowed me and my sister to be as unique as we could be, as well as being true to myself.”
After finishing his undergraduate degree, Tolleson said, he spent about six years as a wine buyer, traveling and learning about viniculture.
The job took him to new places, like Southern France and Argentina, he said. He cultivated an extensive wine knowledge, something Julie Castaneda, a journalism student of legal age to drink, has benefitted from.
“He’s a wine expert and told me several different wines to try, many of which I can’t pronounce or remember,” Castaneda said.
While these journeys have contributed to Tolleson’s life story, he is uncertain whether they were worth the price he had to pay.
“There is definitely a price to pay for experience, and that’s not always a good thing, and it’s taken me until now to be able to realize that,” he said. “Yes, I was able to tour and play music and drink buckets of wine, but all of that comes with a price, and if you’re not cautious, it can be pretty steep.”
After getting burnt out as a wine buyer, he said, he was ready to continue his education. At the same time, the College of Media & Communication was looking to hire a new journalism adviser.
“I was very surprised in all honesty when I got the phone call from [Tech],” he said, “but Dr. Chambers was on the interview committee, and it just felt like a wonderful homecoming.”
His graduate work is in clinical mental health, he said, so working one-on-one with individuals, like he does every day in his office, is something he is planning to do.
“Believe it or not, I really do love my students,” he said. “I enjoy that moment when you see a student get it. It’s a very powerful moment.”
The connections he is able to build with his students are something Hipp said she believes is an asset to the university and to each student who goes into Tolleson’s office. Taking the longer route during college and having to get support when he struggled is something not everyone experiences or is able to work through at school, she said. However, having an adviser who has made mistakes and overcome them helps each and every student.
“The way I approach a student is the way I would want someone to approach me,” Tolleson said. “I’d like to think I respect myself enough that I would want to extend that courtesy to someone else.”
Outside of the office, Tolleson said he enjoys Americana culture and salvaged denim, reading, collecting vinyl and writing a book, a project he has been working on for seven years. He also spends time with his old cat and dog and his girlfriend.
While he is not as active in the Lubbock music scene as he once was, Tolleson has still been able to introduce others to the Lubbock music community.
Jerod Foster, an assistant professor of practice at Texas Tech, said he began playing music with a band in Lubbock after Tolleson invited him to a concert.
“He is one of the first people I ever met in the music scene in Lubbock,” Foster said. “I was a freshman at Tech when I met him at Tarpley’s music store. We were playing on some acoustic guitars, and he mentioned he liked my playing. He then invited me to come see his band open up for The Great Divide later that night. He put me on the list, and it was a great show. I saw them a couple more times before jumping into my band, The Hogg Maulies, and hitting the road.”
Tolleson has many hopes: finishing his graduate work, seeing the relationship he is in blossom and possibly getting a raise. But he is careful not to dwell too much on the past and avoid putting too much pressure on the future.
“A really wonderful person told me a long time ago, ‘There is no there. There is only here and if you worry about how to get there—if I can get that job, if I can get that degree, if I can just get there I will be happy—that’s a false way of thinking,'” he said. “I really dig this job, though. I may just be like Dr. Dean and become a column, a pillar, here some day.”
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