Holder earned a B.S. and a M.A. from Central Michigan University (CMU) in 1964 and 1966, respectively. He earned a Ph.D. in English from Michigan State University in 1972. Retiring in 2010 as faculty emeritus, Holder had been on campus since the fall of 1958. He knew and worked with all the CMU presidents from Charles Anspach through George Ross. He was on campus during the return of World War II veterans, the social activist period of the late 1960s-1970s, taught VietNam veterans, witnessed the development of the Faculty Association, the first union for faculty at a four-year university in the U.S., and a major building effort at CMU from the late 1990s-forward. Holder began teaching at CMU while in the Ph.D. program due to a shortage of professors. He was later granted tenure and served nine years as the English Department Chair. In the late 1980s, Holder taught at medium and maxium security prisons in Ionia under the aegis of Montcalm Community College. Also from 1980 through 1992, Holder worked as an outpatient therapist and counselor and clinical coordinator. A copy of his M.A. thesis is cataloged in the Park Library. In 2010, Holder and his wife owned homes in Mount Pleasant and the Traverse City area. Marian Matyn is the Archivist of the Clarke Historical Library and Assistant Professor at CMU Libraries.
From the description of Collection, 2010. (Clarke Historical Library). WorldCat record id: 686682013
