He might be semi-retired, but veteran medical school professor George Holmes has a new job at the University.

Every Friday from noon to 4 p.m. Holmes reports to the Visitor Center where he's sought out by prospective students and their parents eager for "insider information" from a faculty member. Holmes is the first retired professor to volunteer at the center, which tours thousands of visitors across campus every year from its base in McKissick on the Horseshoe.

"Parents really enjoy having a faculty member to talk to after the walking tours are done," Holmes said. "They're very open and feel a little relieved to talk to an adult--so much of the tour is geared toward students."

Holmes earned his master's and Ph.D. degrees in the 1960s from Carolina, and became a founding faculty member of the medical school when it incorporated William S. Hall Institute into its neuropsychiatry and behavioral science department in the 1970s. He continues to teach medical students on a part-time basis at night.

"I'm sort of the pilot study for the Visitor Center using retired faculty as volunteers," Holmes said. "Denise Wellman runs a good shop here; she took the idea of using someone like me as an information resource for visitors and ran with it."

Brad Popiolek, a public relations major who graduated earlier this month, was a student ambassador at the Visitor Center for each of his four years at the University. "Parents look at Dr. Holmes as a very credible source of information, plus he's very welcoming and professional," he said. "To be able to talk to a faculty member face to face is really comforting. And students interested in pre-med or other pre-professional studies like to talk to a faculty member from medicine."

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