Maryville College unveils new Greaser Alumni Center
Aug. 24, 2021
The building that houses Maryville College’s Advancement, Alumni Affairs and Church Relations offices now has a new name – the Greaser Alumni Center.
The building is named after the family of Maryville College alumnus Dan Greaser ’60 and wife Shirley, who generously donated $1 million to Maryville College to fund the renovation. The family’s gift also will support the new “Greaser Gallery” in what will serve as Maryville College’s new welcome center for prospective students and their families and office space for Admissions (in the building currently known as Willard House).
“We are truly grateful for the Greaser family’s longtime support of Maryville College,” said Maryville College President Bryan F. Coker. “It is fitting that this alumni center not only bears the name of such an exemplary alumnus, but it also sits on the highway leading to Townsend, where both Dan and Shirley grew up. We are blessed to have both as ardent supporters of the College.”
The announcement was made on Aug. 24, during a ribbon cutting event that included members of the Greaser family, President Coker, members of Maryville College’s Cabinet, and Advancement and Alumni Affairs staff members.
“The Greaser family has several alumni of the College, many who volunteered or worked to support its mission,” Dan Greaser said. “It is an honor to enhance the focus on alumni participation through this Alumni Center at Maryville College.”
The 4,600-square-foot building located at 826 East Lamar Alexander Parkway – formerly the U.S. Bank building – was constructed on campus property in 2006, when the College entered into a lease with Bank East. In 2012, U.S. Bank acquired Bank East, and it occupied the property until the branch’s closing in 2019. When the bank’s lease expired, ownership and possession of the building reverted to the College, allowing the College to house Advancement and Alumni Affairs staff members in one building (they were previously split between Willard House and Alexander House).
“This building can be easily accessed by visitors, especially those with mobility issues, and provides us with additional frontage and visibility on the increasingly traveled Highway 321,” Coker said in February, when he made the announcement about the acquisition of the building.
Cosmetic and technological updates to the building were completed last spring, and the 12 employees of the Advancement and Alumni Affairs offices, which include Church Relations, moved to the building this summer.
An open house will be held during Homecoming Weekend, on Oct. 23, to allow alumni and friends to tour the new building.
Greasers are longtime MC supporters, advocates
With strong family ties to Townsend, Tenn., Sheridan “Dan” Greaser came to the Maryville College campus from Lanham, Md., in 1956. Adding his name to the rosters of numerous student organizations and joining the College’s varsity baseball and football teams, Dan became a standout student on campus. Before graduating in 1960, he was elected president of his class.
A chemistry major, Dan immediately went to work as an analytical chemist for Union Carbide at the Y-12 plant in Oak Ridge. In 1965, Union Carbide sent him to Cleveland, Ohio, to set up a state-of-the-art analytical laboratory. While in Ohio, Dan’s talent for management, organization and quality control was recognized and for the next nearly 15 years, Union Carbide sent Dan to plants throughout the United States to consult on issues ranging from quality control to product engineering.
His expertise went international in 1979, when Union Carbide’s Ralston Energy Systems sent Dan, wife Shirley and their family to Geneva, Switzerland, where this MC alumnus was named director of operations for the company’s Europe markets. After nearly four years in Europe, he was named Area Production Director for the Asia Pacific region, which required a move to Singapore. With the title was responsibility for 11 plants in nine countries. In time, he would be responsible for sales and marketing into 100 countries.
In 1989, Ralston Energy System sent the family back to Europe, where Dan was employed as production director for Europe. At the time of his retirement in 1998, he was general manager of operations for Eveready Battery Company’s Global Lighting Division.
“Dan’s Maryville College education literally took him around the world and back – his career is a testament to the power of the liberal arts, which provide you with a diverse and wide-ranging skillset, as well as a global perspective,” Coker said.
A 21-year member of the Maryville College Board of Directors, Dan served as vice chair, and he served on the Board’s Buildings and Grounds Committee, Executive Committee, and Finance and Investment Committee
In addition to the family’s generous financial support of Maryville College and the Clayton Center for the Arts, Dan spearheaded the first Kin Takahashi Week (now known as KT Days) in 1997. Named for Kin Takahashi, a student from Maryville College’s past, the annual event celebrates the “can-do” spirit of a student who, during the 1890s, founded the College’s first football team and led a project to build Bartlett Hall on campus. Every year, about 100 MC alumni from across the country travel to Maryville to donate to the College something other than money – their time. They sign up for manual labor projects like pressure washing, painting, carpentry, masonry and landscaping. The Greaser family remains involved in the event every year.
Dan also was instrumental in helping bring the Smoky Mountain Scottish Festival and Games to the Maryville College campus in 2010.
Dan was inducted into the Maryville College Wall of Fame in 1998 (football), and he received the College’s Alumni Citation in 2002. In 2005, was awarded the Maryville College Medallion – the highest award presented by the College. He served on the Maryville College Alumni Association’s national board, and he served on several MC fundraising campaign steering committees, as well as the presidential search committee in 2009.
Dan and Shirley have three children: Dawn, Leigh and Eric. Eric graduated from MC in 1984. Daughter Leigh Sterling was a member of the College’s staff from 2001 until 2004. Granddaughter Stephanie Zilles Smith is a member of the College’s Class of 2007, and grandson Sean Sterling is a member of the Class of 2020.
