How long have you been a professor here? What are some special occurrences that have marked your time?\nSince 1979. I think watching the departments move into the next generation so successfully and watching the University become such a distinguished and enabled place has been marvelous. To watch the success of graduate students as they go off and work in the field and to see undergraduates grow and develop in their study has been gratifying.
As a professor, do you have specific goals or values you are trying to convey to your students or others in the University community?\nTo prevent people from overlooking the indispensable value of the study of humanities. You could say I am angry now because I believe so centrally in the humanities. It is not an accident that they call it that. We are human beings and we need it to survive. In this environment, the disregard for the humanities is astonishing, breathtaking and deeply regrettable. This is partly an issue for the University administration but it is also an issue for the student body. I think every student should recognize that whatever they do, they must pursue humanities in one sense or another. It is about our sense of history, so we clearly remember where we came from. It is also about interpretation, so we don't just look at the world and think its meaning is transparent. Lastly, it is about value and figuring out our purpose in life.
How do you engage your students?\nI do not believe in dignity; that's not my goal. I believe in speaking out of my own passion. I mean it when I say I always learn more than I teach. I try to let the students see that I am not above them or below them. We start with a hierarchy and then we try to become equals. I just like students! They're full of hope and always reinvigorate and motivate me.
What would you consider your area of expertise? How did you become interested in it?\nMy official area of expertise is modernism. I am so interested because we're not through with modernism and I think we are currently living in our own modernity. It is an issue that we have studied in history but it very much affects our present lives.
In addition to being a professor, you are also an acclaimed author. How would you describe your personal writing process?\nWriting, the other side of my life, is very personal and very intimate for me. There is a private side of writing that I enjoy because it makes me think about how I want to express what's important to me. It is also a way of being in conversation with people; there are so many others that share my interest, and it is truly an exchange of gifts when you write and read. One reason I love my work is that it is very public and I thrive being in the midst of students and talking with them for hours and hours.
What is the most exciting project you've ever worked on?\nWell, I'm always excited. Right now, I'm most excited about a new initiative in global studies. The first step would be a minor in global studies at the University. With this new initiative, students won't just go abroad for a summer and forget about it after the experience. It's a program that will engage the students in a truly global manner. My dream is to have students work with students in places like Africa and China instead of looking at them as isolated communities. In truth, we are all studying the same thing. We are all studying cultures.
How has your work affected your personal life?\nWell, my children are 23 and 24. For so much of my teaching career, I moved between English departments and homes. I always viewed my students as images of what my children could become. The fun of home is something I always thought should be a part of the educational process. Ultimately, education is about joy, and joy is where personal life and work life really meet for me.
What are your future hopes and ambitions?\nI hope that there will be an even greater intersection between public and private life; I don't believe in keeping them apart. I want to know my students and I want them to know about my life. I don't want that to be hidden. I also want more students to believe me when I say they must engage in the humanities. If they don't do it, it will be done for them.
-compiled by Romae Kelly
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