Introducing Professor Caz!

Hello everyone, I'm Matthew Cazessus and I am a sociology instructor at Greenville Technical College. I moved to Greenville about 10 years ago after I finished my graduate courses at the University of South Carolina - Columbia.

When I'm not teaching sociology and leadership courses I play board games, read science fiction, and volunteer in Boy Scouts with my two sons (age 11 and 14). The parks, access to mountains, and community around Greenville seem to be a great fit for having "high energy" kids like these two. 

Beyond parenting and gaming, I love to travel - internationally if possible. My favorite recent trips were to Istanbul, Turkey in Spring 2013 and London, England in 2019. I cannot recommend international travel enough: you learn just as much about yourself and your own culture as you learn about the new place you visit.

My favorite picture from Istanbul - a lamp vendor

One thing that people find interesting about me is that in between undergraduate and graduate school, I worked at a crisis shelter counseling homeless and at-risk youth in Orlando, Florida. Providing case management to young people who were suffering through serious issues was a tremendous inspiration, but as you can guess it is terribly draining emotionally. After about four years of that work, I felt ready to try to go back to school and see if I couldn't study the homelessness issue from an academic rather than personal angle.

I'm looking forward to hearing from you and introducing you to a greater understanding of our teaching opportunities. I hope you enjoy the class and the blogging experience. Let me know if I can ever give you some assistance with any of your coursework by sending me a message through Blackboard, emailing me at cazesmc@my.gvltec.edu, or just talking after class!