Editorial
Front Page - Friday, October 1, 2010
Susan Barnette recognized as educator of the year
Erica Tuggle
Susan Barnette has been teaching Realtors the knowledge they need to excel for ten years all across the state of Tennessee. Having joined the Chattanooga Association of Realtors staff as head of Knowledge Services in May of this year, she employs the slogan of a former instructor: “Education is cheap, ignorance is what costs.”
- Erica Tuggle
Susan Barnette has only been the director of knowledge services for the CAR since May, but already she is making quite an impression on those around her. Her hard work and constant vigilance on providing educational opportunities for the Realtors of the state earned her the educator of the year award at the Tennessee Association of Realtors Convention held in Memphis two weeks ago.
This award is not given every year, but rather only when recognition is merited. Barnette says she is honored to receive the award, and it means a lot to her.
Although, she doesn’t know
exactly why she was chosen for the award, she does cite the work she has done with the Tennessee Association of Realtors in developing, writing and being the subject matter expert on a few courses. She has also taught many classes for them and a host of other
associations around the state including the Northeast Tenn-essee Association of Realtors, Greater Nashville Association of Realtors and Clarksville. She says they just kept calling her back, and she appreciates the faith they had in her as an instructor to give her the chance they did.
One thing is apparent: you don’t get to be named educator of the year for nothing. Barnette began her real estate career in 1982 in Fayetteville, N.C., as a property manager. When she made the move to Tennessee in 1996, she decided to get her real estate license. Soon after, in 2000, she began teaching in the office and for the Cleveland association with the blessing of her broker, Rick Holt. He introduced her to Pug Scoville, the education director at the Tennessee Association of Realtors, and this led to a foot in the door and Barnette’s teaching beginnings, as she started volunteering on the forms committee at the state level and teaching classes on forms.
“From there, everyone from the state figured I knew about the forms and had me come and teach all across the state,” she says.
Although she enjoyed those classes, Barnette says she wanted to teach more than forms. Scoville told her she needed to write classes on the things that people don’t like to take. It was in this way Barnette says she got to teach a mixture of things that helped with the securing of her current position at the CAR. Taking this position required Barnette to retire her real estate license, which stopped her from teaching at other associations, but opened the door for her to offer all kinds of instruction at the CAR, she says.
She has begun this task in full force, and with a trusty motto in tow as well, she says.
“I had an instructor named Billy Benton, and he said, ‘Education is cheap, but ignorance is what is expensive.’ That has stuck with me, and I firmly believe that for the real estate business. I’ve been teaching for about 10 years now and have kept that slogan in mind.”
Daily, Barnette talks to instructors across the country to try to see what they have to offer in courses. She has also conducted a survey with the membership of the CAR of things they would like to have her bring for them. Keeping on top of the paperwork is a constant affair, too, she says.
“I consider my main function to provide quality education and learning opportunities for all the members here,” she says. “I want them, if they see something that they are exposed to that they want, to tell me and I will try to bring it here.”
Barnette says she wants to provide learning opportunities for the members in every aspect from social media, risk management and anything else they may need. She says she realizes the pressure of the job within the job for Realtors to keep up their continuing education credits, especially when they are licensed in more than one state and education for both states is required to stay in compliance for an active license.
In an effort to help with this, Barnette provides the “Lunch and Learn” series: an opportunity to grab lunch and enjoy a quick one or two hour program that assists Realtors on gaining knowledge on items like Google, Picasa, YouTube and search engine optimization. There are also early morning classes called “Knowledge Seekers,” she says. In the upcoming month alone, the calendar is full to the brim. “Technology or Bust,” “Must have Characteristics of Web sites,” commercial classes and Google and Facebook classes are all in store for the knowledge services of the CAR.
One class Barnette says she is looking forward to is called “Maximum Marketing, Minimum Dollars.” The big class at the end of Oct. is the certified residential specialist training on the 27 and 28 with an international speaker and instructor out of Texas who will be teaching technologies to advance your business, she says.
“That’s a huge thing, and I hope we have people who take advantage of that,” she says.
Realtors needn’t think they are doing all the work to keep educated about the business. Barnette says, even she has to keep up to date on her educa-tion and will be going for training for a senior residential specialist course, green designation and recertification so she can teach these classes at the CAR.
Barnette says she wants the members to know that she is there for them to provide for their education needs, listen to those needs they want addressed and make their ideas on education a reality.
“I do want them to remember that we do have to pay for classes sometimes, but that saying that ‘Education is cheap, it
is the ignorance that is expensive,’ is what I always tell them,” she says. “I wholeheartedly believe the more learning opportunities they have, the better they are going to be in servicing the consumers here in Hamilton County and
the surrounding counties.”
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