Education

New Journal Guide Remembers NSU Professor Carol Pretlow, 75

By Leonard E. Colvin
Chief Reporter Emeritus
New Journal and Guide

Dr. Carol Jocelyn Pretlow, 75, the iconic professor of Political Science and World Affairs at Norfolk State University (NSU) passed shortly before Christmas, according to family members. The cause of death has not been released.

News of her death was shocking and the depth of sorry and respect from former students, colleagues, and civic leaders was deep and moving on social media notably Facebook.

NSU, where she taught since 1986 released a statement noting Dr. Pretlow “leaving a lasting impact on the university community and countless students whose lives she touched.”

It continued, “Professor Pretlow’s commitment to the field of political science, her passion for teaching, and her unwavering dedication to her students were evident in all aspects of her work. She served NSU for more than 30 years and not only imparted valuable knowledge in the classroom but also inspired generations of students to think critically about the world around them and engage with political issues on a deeper level.

Her expertise, warmth, and generosity of spirit will be greatly missed by colleagues, students, and everyone fortunate enough to have worked with her.”

Dr. Pretlow secured an elite education and, credentials, but was proud of her rural hometown, Smithfield, Virginia.

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During one of many casual conversations with this reporter, Dr. Pretlow admitted “that no matter how far I travel away from home … I am still a country girl.”

She was the lone child of Kenneth and Vivian H. Pretlow. Her father was a farmer activist, and like his wife, a public-school educator.

“I think my father was disappointed I was not a boy because he wanted a hand to help run the farm,” she said during a casual exchange with this reporter. “I did what I could, but I was more interested in the academics and he understood.”

She was born four years after WWII. Black soldiers fought for democracy overseas and returned home to join the emerging modern civil rights movement, which caught her attention.

She said she spent endless hours devouring books on varying subjects. By age 10, she was “grown and intelligent” enough to discuss and debate the movement and issues overseas with her father.

“Before I was a teen, I would walk the streets of my old neighborhood with political organizers who were registering people to vote … and urging people to go to the polls,” said Dr. Pretlow, in a GUIDE article, focusing on her mobilizing students’ interests in the 2012 Presidential election.

“By the time I started college, I had a working knowledge of the political system, the need to vote and being aware of the issues. If we can get these students mobilized and interested in voting, this will spur them to participate in the process once they graduate from school and get in the real world.”

At 16 years old Pretlow graduated from high school in 1965.

One of the weekly articles she wrote her senior year, headlined “Georgie Tyler High School News” in Windsor, Virginia, appeared in the October 10, 1964 edition of the GUIDE.

Five years later in the May 7, 1970 edition of the GUIDE, Social Whirl editor Undine Davis Young wrote “Miss Carol Jocelyn Pretlow of Smithfield, Virginia will leave home for the School of International Training in Brattleboro, Vermont. After three weeks of intensive language training, she will go to Greece as a participant in the Experiment in International Living.”

Pretlow admitted eventually she could have a variety of academic and career pathways with a B.A. in Political Science from Fisk University, Nashville, Tenn.; M.A. in Mass Communications from Norfolk State University, and a J.D. and an LL.M (International Law) from The American University Washington College of Law in Washington, D.C.

One intriguing chapter of her journey reveals a foray into Journalism, as a fashion writer.

In a January 18, 1978 edition of the GUIDE an article “Smithfield Native A Fashion Writer and Model,” described Pretlow as “one of the area’s first Black fashion writers.”

“A graduate of Fisk University with a B.A. in Political Science,” (who had originally planned) a legal career completed her first fashion studies at John Roberts Powers of Virginia Beach.

“While modeling she represented Randall Academy in the Miss Black America of Virginia Pageant. She added fashion coordination and commendations to her career. She graduated from the Barbizon School of Fashion Merchandising in Washington D.C. with a degree in fashion reporting and design.

In August 1977 she one of the ‘Three Aggressive Black Women on PRIDE Of WAVY-TV 10, her poems were published frequently in the Piedmont Literary Society.

Professor Pretlow’s teaching career has included engagements as an adjunct professor of foreign policy at The National Defense University Joint Forces Staff College, Norfolk, Virginia, and as a visiting professor of international relations at Tongji University in Shanghai, China.

The professor’s research engagements have included The W.E.B. Dubois Institute for Afriican-American Studies at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass; and UVA.

Pretlow said when she arrived at NSU in 1986, having made their mark, the “old guard” academics was exiting from the half-century old HBCU and Virginia’s largest at the time.

They were being replaced by the likes of Pretlow or Cassandra Newby Alexander, in the Political Science and History Departments who would become high profile and productive figures.

Long-time friend Paula Shaw, said William Robinson, Sr., a campus and regional political leader, took Pretlow under his wing and “cultivated her practice of interactive engagement with community, and students in the classroom even after hours.

Pretlow supplemented her instruction by inviting politicians and other civic leaders to engage her students, including educator and Norfolk’s Mayor Kenneth C. Alexander.

“I was deeply saddened to hear about the sudden passing of Professor Pretlow,” Alexander wrote responding to the news of her demise. “When I first started teaching, I sought (her) expertise in designing an Introduction to International Relations/Diplomacy course at Tidewater Community College. She generously shared her wisdom on how to instruct students on the complex factors shaping national policies, including … her insights into international conflicts and their resolution were invaluable.

“I was honored that she would invite me to lecture to her class as a professor of practice, further demonstrating her commitment to collaborative learning and community engagement.”