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When he was a freshman at Mars Hill College in 1969, a young Joseph Franklin had his first encounter with Newberry College while serving as a photojournalist during a Mars Hill-Newberry football game.

Almost four decades later, as Dr. Joseph Franklin, he would make Newberry College his professional home.

Franklin currently serves as chair of the Department of Business and Behavioral Sciences at Newberry College. He came to Newberry after 28 years at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College, where he was dean of the business and hospitality division.

A graduate of Mars Hill, Franklin holds a master’s degree in business and economics from Appalachian State University, an educational specialist degree from Western Carolina University, and a doctorate in educational administration from East Tennessee State University.

While doing graduate work at Virginia Tech, Franklin worked at the Center for the Study of Public Choice, founded by economists Gordon Tullock and Nobel Prize-winner James Buchanan.

“I learned a lot about economics, and began looking at the world through an economic lens,” Franklin says.

Franklin says “it’s a funny story” how he ended up at Newberry.

His daughter attended a conference at Newberry College, and believed it would be a good fit for him.

When Franklin visited the college’s website, he didn’t find any job openings that met his qualifications. However, two weeks later, he checked again and found an opening for the department chair’s position.

“I applied for the position, but had the idea in my mind that it probably wouldn’t amount to anything,” Franklin remembers.

However, he was hired.

Even with his responsibilities as department chair, Franklin still teaches six hours of economics per semester.

“Economics was my first love, and I enjoy coming back to that,” he says.

Franklin also serves on the Religious Life Advisory Board and enjoys being a part of campus ministries.

He says he enjoys the cultural opportunities the college offers, such as the Fine Arts and Lectures events, the concerts offered by the music department and athletic events.

Franklin says he appreciates “being part of a faith-based, liberal arts college with a well-defined admission and an enriching community.”