When examining campus culture, we often focus on student activities. So, we started a series examining how professors on campus contribute to our culture! This week we’re hearing from Dr. Melanie Almeder, a Professor of Literary Studies and Creative Writing.
Q: How did you come to work in your field?
A: I always loved literature, art, and learning, and those things led me to more study, more literature, more art, and then to teaching.
Q: How long have you been at Roanoke, and how did you come to be here?
A: This is my 25th year at Roanoke College. Roanoke College was one of the first schools that interviewed me for a teaching job as I was finishing up my Ph.D.. Roanoke College’s ethics-driven community and its commitment to the liberal arts made it stand out from the other schools. The things I saw happening on campus were dynamic and compelling. During my campus visit, the whole college was studying the Death Penalty, watching “Dead Man Walking,” and Sister Prejean was the Visiting Speaker. Here was a small liberal arts college taking on the big questions and inviting a national figure to lead a discussion. The next day, the head of the interview committee, Mike Heller, asked me, “What do you think is the ultimate goal of a liberal arts degree?” As I thought about my answer, he added, “I hope it helps to stop people from killing one another.” No one at any other interview had expressed such a passion for and conviction about the power of knowledge and education. I still see projects here that ask the big questions, that take on crucial truths and ethics with passion and conviction, like the ones Jesse Bucher has undertaken for The Center for Studying the Structure of Race.
Q: What is your favorite part of your work, and what is the most challenging?
A: I love hearing people’s stories and poems. There’s a great democracy to story and song—we all have them. What I have loved about working in academia is the constant growth and learning it requires and being a part of a community of people who love learning. It’s a great privilege to work with students.
Q: What’s most challenging?
A: Time is too limited an entity. I need more hours in a day, more days in a week, and an extra month here and there to do all that I aspire to do.
What is the biggest thing you’ve learned since coming to work here? The biggest thing I have learned since I came to Roanoke College is that if I listen deeply to my students and colleagues, I will grow.
Q: What is your advice to Roanoke College students?
A: My advice is to use your college experience to push your intellectual limits, your work ethic, and your exposure to new people, new ideas, and new experiences. A great education is a conduit to the world. Have a goal to graduate with pride for how you grew, for what you learned, and what you confronted in yourself and in society. Do not let fear keep you from challenging yourself. There are kinds of failures that are glorious because you took risks and learned from them. The life you live is not yours alone—we are all deeply connected. So, cultivate compassion for yourself and for others. And, hey, no pressure, but the health of the democracy may depend on your generation, so involve yourself in its evolution.
Maggie Raker
Section Editor
