Barbara Mezeske, Associate Profesor

 

Teaching Responsibilities Western World Literature I and II 20th Century African Literature Expository Writing I Expository Writing II First-Year Seminar

  Other activities

• Coordinator of Freshman Composition
• Member of Teaching Enhancement Workshop for new college faculty
• Director, Faculty Mentoring Program

• Provost's Award for Excellence in Teaching (January 1998)

Publications

• Finding Our Way: Reforming Teacher Education in the Liberat Arts Setting

Mezeske, Richard J. and Barbara A. Mezeske, eds. New York: Peter Lang, 2004.

Q: What keeps me in this profession after all these years?

A: What happens in the classroom. Personally and professionally I am interested in finding new and creative ways to engage students: collaborative learning, contract grading, and shaped journal responses are some of the ways I have kept myself energized.

Q: What have been some of my greatest satisfactions in teaching?

When students ask me what I like about teaching, I grin and say "power." They never know what to think. They expect me to say something like "love of literature" or "need to be with people." Those things are there too. But I also like being able to decide what I'm going to do each day. I like writing syllabi. I like planning weeks ahead. I like trying new things. I like control--even though very often by the end of an hour things have taken an unexpected turn. Recently, for example, two students had "openers" in my Western World Literature course. One explained Pope's use of heroic couplet IN heroic couplet. The other sang, a la Bob Dylan, a song about a rock at the foot of the Great Chain of Being, complete with guitar and harmonica accompaniment. They were terrific. So what if I had to rush my comments about "An Essay on Man?" It was a good class.

Personal

My husband Richard Mezeske and I met in the cafeteria line when we were students at Hope a very long time ago, in a galaxy far away. We have two children, Emily and Andrew, of whom we are very proud.