FACULTY SPOTLIGHT
DR. CLAIRE SCHMIDT Assistant Professor of English & Honors Program Director
"What I enjoy most about teaching at MVC is the people. I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to work every day with such smart, kind, interesting, and hardworking students, staff, and faculty."
When did you join the MVC faculty? August 2013
What degree(s) do you hold, and from where? Bachelors in English (2003) from the University of Wisconsin-Madison; Masters in English, 2008 (medieval literature) from the University of Missouri; PhD in English, 2013 (folklore, oral tradition, and culture studies & medieval lit programs) from the University of Missouri. What is something that people may not know about you? I worked as a nutritionist, a landscaper, a secretary, a cleaning lady, a medical secretary, a community organizer, and a lobbyist at the state level in the years before, during and after college.
What is a hobby you enjoy outside of teaching? Weightlifting, fruit and vegetable gardening and cooking. What do you teach at MVC and what other areas of campus are you involved in?
I was hired when Dr. Loren Gruber retired, so I inherited his eclectic mix of courses, which I absolutely love. I teach Rhetoric and Composition and Literature and Composition (both domestic and international sections), World Literature 1 & 2, Creative Writing, Advocacy and Grant Writing and 19th-Century British Literature, just to name a few. I became the director of the Honors Program in 2016. I've served on Faculty Senate and as chair for the strategic planning subcommittee on Academic Culture. I have served as co-chair of the Student Research Symposium since its creation in fall 2016, and organized the Visiting Writers Series since fall 2014.
18 Viking Views | Spring/Summer 2018
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