Macon State College MVPs is a web feature that profiles notable students, alumni, faculty and staff.

Family: Gerald Cantwell (deceased), father, and former Director of Historical Services HQAFRes, Robins Air Force Base; Elieen Cantwell (deceased), mother; Betsy Lerner, wife; John C. Cantwell, son; Michael Cantwell (deceased) brother; Kathleen Askier, sister; Terry Cantwell, brother; Liz Johnson, sister; Mary Cantwell, sister; Theresa Dickey, sister; and John F. Cantwell, brother.

Job Title: Professor of English.

Degrees: Bachelor’s in philosophy from Georgia State University; doctorate in British and American Literature from the University of Utah.

Year he joined the Macon State faculty: 1991.

Some of his teaching career highlights are: “Helping to establish the Faculty Senate this year and redesigning and implementing the Communications and Information Technology degree program. My second book of poems, 'One of Those Russian Novels,' fell into my lap as a gift. I would also say that for a few years I was a 'Paris Review' writer and got to attend a party at George Plimpton's New York City apartment for the 50th anniversary of the magazine, where we celebrated an anthology of its writers I was included in.”

He enjoys teaching at Macon State College because … "I have made hundreds of friends over the years because of the college, and about a dozen of my former students have become friends, too, a couple of them close friends. I never anticipated the happiness of all of these friendships when I began teaching.”

His favorite course to teach is … “I especially enjoy the 'War, Romance, and Humor' perspectives course. We study various kinds of texts, Civil War letters, the White House tapes from the Johnson administration, classic films like 'MASH,' 'Dr. Strangelove,' and 'The Best Years of Our Lives,' and such well-known works as 'Bloods: Black Veterans of the Vietnam War: An Oral History' and 'Band of Sisters: American Women at War in Iraq.'”

One thing people don't know about Macon State is . . . “In 1967 the college was nothing but red dirt and pine trees.”

One thing people don't know about him is . . . “I was a mountaineering bum in the late 1970s, living and climbing in Yosemite National Park and the Tetons. I did things in those years, like riding freights all over the West and rafting down the Stanislaus River the autumn before it was dammed, that have helped define how I look at the amazing life I have been given.”

In his spare time he likes to … “Enjoy a beautiful marriage.”

The one person he’d most like to meet is … “I would like to have heard Hank Williams sing in the year before he died.”

If he wasn't a college professor he would be … “A bridge engineer because I like the architecture of bridge spans and the problem-solving that becomes that architecture.”