Education

Amy Ludwig VanDerwater

jc78 — Thu, 30 Aug 2018 16:27:21 +0000

Amy Ludwig VanDerwater jc78 Thu, 08/30/2018 - 12:27

Career Field

Education

Author and Writing Teacher

Year of Graduation

1992

The Poem Farm

As a little girl, I wrote in big letters in a gingham diary and pretended to teach my dog to read. At forty-three, my life is, happily, much the same.

In the late 80’s and early 90’s, I combined my English major with certification in elementary education. It is the poetry I remember most. Professor Joe O’Brien read Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz” aloud as the sun sank, and Professor Wes Kennison challenged us to write our first sonnets. Dr. Julia Walker swung wide the doors to Milton, and Dr. Eugene Stelzig introduced Wordsworth and Goethe. My heart beat in meter.

Following graduation, I spent a year substitute teaching (and working retail) and then a year teaching fifth grade in the Sweet Home Central School District north of Buffalo, NY. During that year, I was offered an opportunity to work at the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project at Columbia University, to study with Lucy Calkins and work in her office in exchange for tuition and a stipend. I took the offer, knowing this would be a good way to earn my MA.

I did not know that this, too, would change my heartbeat. At Teachers College, I learned about writing workshop: mentor texts, conferring, children’s literature. I stayed for one year and returned to my classroom a stronger writing teacher, completing my MA (newly married) from afar.

When our daughter Hope was born in 1998, I stayed home with her and with Georgia and Henry too. But I did not stop writing or teaching. Rather, I continued to attend conferences and teach occasional workshops for teachers. It is during these years, these what could have been out-of-career-years, that I found my life’s work.

At �鶹��ý�Ŷ�, I learned that people can and will help you if your passion is fueled by sweat. I took this lesson with me, and I have continually reached out to teachers-of-the-world. I am grateful for my generous and wise poetry mentor, Lee Bennett Hopkins, who anthologizes my poems, introduced me to his agent and launched my writing career. My first poetry book for children, Forest Has A Song(Clarion 2013) will soon be followed by Reading Time (Boyds Mills Press, date TBA) and another (still secret) book under contract. I have also co-authored, with Lucy Calkins and Stephanie Parsons, a professional text titled Poetry: Big Thoughts In Small Packages (Heinemann, 2013).

Today, I write poetry for children and teach workshops about the craft of writing. My blog, The Poem Farm, began as an experiment in which I wrote a children’s poem and lesson each day from April 2010 – April 2011, and it is now a popular resource in classrooms across the country. I could not love my work more.

I encourage new English majors to listen: to the voices in literature, to the voices of your professors, and to the voices in your heart. The world is full of beauty, and it is possible to make a living by working to find and create even more beauty with words.

Shannon Dempsey

lamontagne — Tue, 26 Mar 2019 15:02:07 +0000

Shannon Dempsey lamontagne Tue, 03/26/2019 - 11:02

Career Field

Education

Law Student

Year of Graduation

2016

St. John’s University School of Law

“My Philosophy studies, specifically Intro to Logic, contributed to my success on the LSAT and the merit based scholarship I received. I took Intro to Philosophy on a whim and it made me realize how much I enjoy forming arguments and public speaking. That course made me completely switch my focus from Business to Philosophy. I believe that my experience in Intro to Philosophy has been a major factor to my success in trial advocacy. ”

Alyssa Yates

lamontagne — Tue, 26 Mar 2019 14:55:14 +0000

Alyssa Yates lamontagne Tue, 03/26/2019 - 10:55

Career Field

Education

Doctoral Candidate Student Affairs

Year of Graduation

2015

Michigan State University

“Studying philosophy strengthened my discussion and debates skills, which serves me well in coursework and in meetings.”

Jeff Handy

lamontagne — Tue, 26 Mar 2019 14:33:57 +0000

Jeff Handy lamontagne Tue, 03/26/2019 - 10:33

Career Field

Education

Academic Advisor

Year of Graduation

2013

University of Texas at Austin

“I transferred to �鶹��ý�Ŷ� and declared Philosophy as my major. Within the first week of classes, I knew I had made the right decision, and by my senior year I felt like a world of opportunity awaited me. Philosophy courses challenged me to become a more proficient writer, a detail-oriented and analytical thinker, and a well-rounded citizen of the world. In my job as an academic advisor at The University of Texas at Austin, I help undeclared students explore their educational and career goals. On a daily basis, I have conversations with students about the value of seeking an academic experience that yields a broad set of transferable skills for a rapidly changing world, and I encourage my students to consider the inherent value in their education. I'm able to pay these perspectives forward to future degree holders thanks to my background in Philosophy at �鶹��ý�Ŷ�.”

Andrew Smith

lamontagne — Wed, 20 Mar 2019 17:19:00 +0000

Andrew Smith lamontagne Wed, 03/20/2019 - 13:19

Career Field

Education

PhD Candidate, Philosophy

Year of Graduation

2011

University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

“My background in philosophy, started at �鶹��ý�Ŷ�, has allowed me to teach and continue learning philosophy, and I'm generally happy with my decision to continue in the discipline. And so philosophy has benefited me professionally by allowing me to enter the profession in the first place. As for the way philosophy has benefited me personally, I'd say the following: studying philosophy has allowed me and enabled me to have the discussions I've always wanted to have. I think my best memory of studying philosophy at �鶹��ý�Ŷ� is the feeling I had when I was doing it - it felt serious. That is, it felt like what we were working on was material which wasn't trivial, but rather, was important, and moreover, we were working on it in a serious (though still relaxed) way.”

Josh Stoll

lamontagne — Wed, 20 Mar 2019 17:00:23 +0000

Josh Stoll lamontagne Wed, 03/20/2019 - 13:00

Career Field

Education

Lecturer of Philosophy

Year of Graduation

2009

University of Hawaii

Personally, philosophy has helped me think clearly and critically about life and develop my own sense of meaning. It completely changed my outlook on life and taught me to love learning for its own sake. This prompted me to pursue it professionally. I now do what I love for a living: I study and learn more about philosophy, as well as other subjects, and I have the pleasure of sharing that passion for study and learning with my own students.

Steve Guglielmo

lamontagne — Mon, 18 Mar 2019 19:21:29 +0000

Steve Guglielmo lamontagne Mon, 03/18/2019 - 15:21

Career Field

Education

Assistant Professor of Psychology

Year of Graduation

2005

Macalester College

“I study the psychology of morality and moral judgment.Although my research adopts primarily a psychological lens of analysis, my background in philosophy has been invaluable in providing a rich, interdisciplinary, and normatively- informed analysis of moral behavior. The nature of the course material reinforced my passion for rigorous, logical analysis and my awareness that philosophy not only sharpens our conceptual understanding but also informs our understanding of practical, pressing issues.”

Ben Greene

lamontagne — Mon, 18 Mar 2019 19:17:48 +0000

Ben Greene lamontagne Mon, 03/18/2019 - 15:17

Career Field

Education

Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology

Year of Graduation

2005

University of Alabama, Birmingham

“The ability to formulate logical arguments and logical statements helps me speak to patients every day. I am a head and neck cancer surgeon. Head and neck cancer is a disease that takes away our ability to eat, speak and look normal in public. In a sense, it takes away things that we enjoy and things that make us human. I have had long talks with people and their families about escalating and de-escalating care, about death and dying, and about the ethics of end of life care. I have no doubt that my strong foundation in philosophy has helped with these discussions.”

Kyle Green

lamontagne — Mon, 18 Mar 2019 18:55:24 +0000

Kyle Green lamontagne Mon, 03/18/2019 - 14:55

Career Field

Education

Associate Prof of Sociology

Year of Graduation

2005

SUNY Brockport

“I majored in Geography at �鶹��ý�Ŷ�. I went onto graduate studies in a top program in Geography and then Sociology. I can honestly say that my coursework in Philosophy was the perfect preparation/training for the dense writing and critical thought I encountered at the University of Minnesota.”

Bob Fischer

lamontagne — Mon, 18 Mar 2019 18:40:56 +0000

Bob Fischer lamontagne Mon, 03/18/2019 - 14:40

Career Field

Education

Assistant Professor of Philosophy

Year of Graduation

2004

Texas State University

“I'm now a philosophy professor, so philosophy has had a huge impact on my personal and professional success. But it wasn't philosophy in general: it was philosophy at �鶹��ý�Ŷ�. Lots of departments are made up of people who simply aren't around, and so students can never find them. But I could always find my professors, and learned as much from them outside of class as in it. Moreover, lots of departments don't run true seminars, where students are pushed to engage in focused, lengthy discussions about the material at hand. But at �鶹��ý�Ŷ�, that was the norm, and it made me the teacher I am today.”