In order to earn a space on the ballot, Odom must garner a minimum of 200 nominations from College alumni by March 1. With the deadline rapidly approaching and hopes running high, the last endorsement count totaled a meager 41. His foremost campaigning medium: Planworld. Dubbed "Odomotopoeia," his plan contains detailed musings about his trustee campaign as well as his personal life.
Josh Bell '02, Odom's ad hoc campaign manager, was the driving catalyst behind the campaign. Concerned about the lack of representation for young alumni on the Board of Trustees, Bell turned to Odom, an alumnus Bell thought was an ideal candidate. Though their paths did not cross much during their years at the College, Bell distinctly recalls Odom's famed reputation on campus. "He was one of the few true campus 'personalities.' Everyone knew who he was. He had such a distinct style, and he was friendly to everyone in a genuine way," said Bell. "I knew of Johnnie a while before I knew him personally, and meeting him was like meeting a celebrity." Their friendship, Bell says, has solidified in the years since Commencement.
Professor of History and American Studies Frank Couvares also remembered Odom's distinctive, dynamic personality. "He was one of a kind. Quite an individualist. He had strong opinions-some quite conservative and others quite liberal. It was hard to pin him down," he said. "Johnnie had a flamboyant personal style. Everyone who met him remembered him. He's lovable-entertaining and lovable. There's no doubt that he loved Amherst."
On the campaign Web site, Bell points out that all three of the nominees currently running for the trusteeship work in finance and that none of these nominees are even remotely recent graduates. Bell feels that Odom would bring some much-needed diversity to the College Board of Trustees. "I and many others feel like we are out of touch with the people who supposedly represent us on the board, and we hope to nominate someone who is young, creative (Johnnie is a playwright and somewhat infamous campus eccentric), and as dedicated to Amherst as any of the other candidates," wrote Bell on Planworld.
The highlights of Odom's Amherst career are numerous. An avid writer, he contributed to numerous campus publications including The Amherst Student, Prism and The Indicator. Odom was also involved in the arts at the College and throughout the Pioneer Valley. He sang in the Glee Club and performed in plays and musicals throughout the Five College area.
Odom's skills and interests extend into the technological sphere as well. While a student at the College, he worked as a supervisor and network specialist at the computer center. His more idiosyncratic activities included airing a self-authored radio drama on WAMH and handing out Gobstoppers at TAP parties and first-year orientation.
Odom's involvement in all things Amherst continued through the end of his time at the College, as he served as the student Commencement speaker at his graduation. Odom has continued to pursue many of the interests he pursued at Amherst since graduating.
A double major in English and history, Odom now works as a technology consultant in Florida, his home state. Odom has written plays for several churches as well as one for the Florida Department of Health Tobacco Grants. He is also active in local community theatere.
Reflecting upon his undergraduate years and observing the present workings of the College, Odom identified several areas that need improvement on campus. His goals include improving campus technology and student health services, increasing the endowment and spicing up alumni outreach. Odom promises to gather information about these areas first-hand on trips to the College, and to use the information he gathers in order to reach a feasible solution. "What I would do, as a Trustee, is to gather input from the student, staff and alumni communities on an informal basis to attempt to put together a picture of what is actually going on and what various parties perceive is actually going on within the College," he said. "I would combine that information with my own perspectives and bring it to the other Trustees."
By virtue of his unique work experience and his more updated perspective on the College, Odom hopes to broaden the breadth of information upon which the Trustees base their decisions. Bell believes that Odom would be able to represent current students at the College as well as alumni. "Johnnie is not a token person to represent a cause," said Bell on Planworld. "He really would make a fantastic Trustee."
Odom said that his expertise in technology would be a valuable asset to the Board of Trustees' decision-making process. Odom shares his plans for campus technology with the confidence of an expert. "As for specific needs, I would say that it is a given that end users always need more support for tasks at every level-that's just a facet of technology that we have to take as a given in any environment," he said. "I would like to see a greater supporting framework for student-driven technology in the school that is sustainable." Odom's plans for greater student involvement in campus technology include establishing NOTE as a robust student organization and providing extensive training for its members.
Odom also hopes to sensitize the campus to students' mental health problems in order to address them before they escalate to a crisis situation. "College students are both biologically at an age where mental health problems are likely to show up and physically in an environment where both freedom and academic pressure (and a profound lack of sleep) can have detrimental effects on their minds," he said. Recalling one Thanksgiving break that he spent on campus sick and unable to buy a plane ticket home, Odom also has plans to make health care and other campus resources more readily accessible for international students and students whose homes are far away.
More information about Johnnie Odom and printable nomination forms can be found on Odom's campaign Web site, http://halogen.note.amherst.edu/~jlodom/trustee.html. Odom is available by phone, by e-mail and by plan for questions and comments. His contact information is listed on the site.