It was a gloomy Wednesday afternoon. The raindrops raced down the car window as downtown Jackson homes blurred across my vision. I was in the passenger seat of Tammy Patton’s car, and we were on the way to pick up her youngest child from school. I didn’t feel anxious like I usually do when interviewing people, nor did I feel bummed by the poor weather.
“So, I guess I’m the empathy professor then,” Patton said with a sheepish smile.
Patton wore a pleasant green raincoat that matched her eyes and a smile that didn’t match the weather. She has a soft voice and her smile seems to always reach her eyes. I had prompted the statement by asking her how she felt about her reputation on campus, one she proudly, though humbly, claims.
I had never interviewed anyone in a car before; however, Patton has a busy schedule and the dreary afternoon was the only time that worked for her. A devoted mom before all else, Patton has three children: two are students at Union and one is still in high school.
Patton is an associate professor of social work at Union. She is a west Tennessee native and Union alumna. Before coming to work at Union, Patton had experience at other universities, but she felt that Union was the school that truly fit her worldview.
Among her students and peers, Patton has become known as the “empathy professor,” a persona she unknowingly crafted through her acts of kindness and interest in empathy research.
“To me, empathy it is putting yourself in someone else’s shoes and seeing what they see and understanding what they feel so you’re feeling with them, but empathy is also a process,” Patton shared. “It’s a process because it’s biological, and it’s also cognitive.”
Patton earned her doctorate in education at Union in the winter of 2019. Her dissertation topic was about using engaging methods to teach empathy. Patton currently still researches empathy and implements the topic in her teaching.
“I just really have a lot of empathy for people who are hurting. And from what I have seen from my experience being a social worker, is that when you convey empathy versus sympathy, you’re able to connect to people better,” Patton said with a smile. “They feel understood, and that’s one of the best feelings in the world — to be understood.”
Patton leads by example both in the classroom and in her personal life. In her classes, she uses simulation activities to place her students in less favorable scenarios that other people experience everyday. Patton is the faculty advisor for the social work organization Helping Professions Reaching Out, and is particularly excited about the volunteer opportunity Room It The Inn, which takes place next Wednesday, Feb. 15.
“In order to grow empathy, I really encourage experiences and putting yourself out there,” Patton explained.
On Feb. 14, the social work department will host a Random Acts of Kindness Day, when they will serve free coffee in the BAC from 9-11 a.m. Patton came up with this idea a couple years ago while thinking of ways to practically show kindness while also encouraging others to pay it forward.
“What’s better than coffee, you know? What better kindness,” Patton laughed. I nodded along, I have to agree.
Although she seems to be at peace all the time, Patton has had her own share of struggles with anxiety. In 2020 during the COVID-19 lockdown, Patton became interested in a concept called “the vagus nerve reset” and learned that yoga is one of the most beneficial ways to stimulate the reset of this nerve and calming of the mind. This led Patton to her latest empathy project: a yoga elective class here at the university. The class has so far been a success, filling up on its debut semester.
“With mindfulness or yoga, it’s not that you’re not thinking of something, it’s that you can be mindful of the present moment and of God’s power, that we’re wonderfully made and that God is love; those are the things that I focus on,” Patton said.
In the past, Patton also had created an e-magazine for teenage girls. The project has now been discontinued but reflects Patton’s various work in the community.
“It’s because I was having empathy for teenagers,” Patton reflected. “I just see our college students as human beings who are living life, and life is hard, and so my heart is for them.”
Brianna Pittman, a junior social work major, had Patton for classes three semesters in a row. One of these classes, Trauma And Resilience, is a course that Patton introduced into the social work curriculum in the Fall of 2022. Pittman is particularly fond of Patton and sees her as a role model figure.
“She talks a lot about empathy and what healthy empathy looks like, and it’s been really helpful to me because I think it’s something we both value a lot, and so I feel like she understands me,” Pittman shared. “She’s just a very, very caring person. She cares for her students, not just like they’re a number, but she cares for them, and there’s been many times she’s checked in on my personal life, and she doesn’t have to do that.”
I’ve known Tammy Patton since I was seven years old, when I became close friends with her oldest child. Throughout the past twelve years of my life, she has taught me to say “yes” to opportunities, take action on new ideas and most importantly, to be kind. Patton has a genuine heart for others, and never hesitates to be involved with her community. Whether she’s coming up with new ideas or teaching her annual lectures on kindness, she is there, full of warmth, thoughtfulness and of course, empathy.