Oxford Abroad: Michelle Joos

Our time at Oxford is coming to an end, and its flooooown by. I’ve experienced so much here, and although it was an academic challenge, it’s crazy how much I learned in just 8 weeks.  My two tutorials have both developed into studies that I didn’t see coming, where the tutors really accommodated my subjects every week into topics that we both found interesting and relevant. Honestly, I was so worried about the direction of my primary and it being so broad that I wouldn’t know enough for it, but my tutor has managed to transform our time together into a big project where I was able to interview 6 different non-profit organizations and write a publishable paper — something I never imagined being possible in such a short time. 

I could go on and on about all the wonderful things we all have been able to experience, but it was also more challenging in ways I wasn’t expecting. So much freedom really forced me to learn how to manage my time smartly, and no two days looked alike in the past 8 weeks (which can also be overwhelming). It’s hard to get to know the local students here since we are doing independent studies and don’t live in the dorms at our respective colleges, but joining clubs and attending college events has helped! I joined the women’s varsity Futsal team, and even traveled to Nottingham for a tournament against other university teams. Getting to know other OSAP students during travel days organized by the program gave us a really nice support system, too. We are all planning trips together around the UK and Europe for when the term finishes (another perk that comes with short terms)! 

It saddens me to say we are days away from finishing, and to any UT student who is thinking about applying, do it. If you are scared about the application process, interviews, and the competition that comes with trying out for this program, you never know until you give it a shot. You can always re-apply! I have gotten so many wonderful experiences and connections from being here, and am excited to bring it all back to my UT studies and community. 

Cheers from Oxford! xx

Michelle

Symposium: The Story Under the Story featuring Professor Shane Hinton

On February 28, 2022, Professor Shane Hinton gave a talk titled “The Story under the Story,” which featured insight into his own creative writing process. He talked about how material in his own life has inspired his fiction, providing “emotional circumstances” from which he might draw to create characters and experiences. Then, he read from his story, “Pelt.”

Professor Hinton is an assistant teaching professor in the department of English and Writing. He specializes in fiction, and his work has recently appeared or is forthcoming in Clackamas Literary Review, The Nervous Breakdown, The Rumpus, Fiction Advocate, storySouth, The Butter and others.

Coffee Conversation: Why Learn to Write Well When an AI Can Do it for You

On February 15, Dr. Dan Dooghan Associate Professor of English and Writing facilitated the coffee conversation, “why learn to write well when AI can do it for you.” Dr. Dooghan led the Honors students in a conversation considering the complex process of finding our voices to communicate our intervention of change in the world. Students discussed how important the writing process is to understanding that thought and voice matter that the actually product created.