Kathryn Stelmach always knew she wanted to be a teacher. The new 蜜桃传媒 English professor and Carlsbad native says she was deeply influenced by her maternal grandparents, who both taught high school English.
鈥淕rowing up, I would sit in my grandfather鈥檚 chair and read his dog-eared poetry. I really fell in love with it,鈥� she says.
Kathryn graduated from Centre College in Danville, Ky., and received a master鈥檚 degree and doctorate from UCLA. She taught at UCLA and Pitzer College in Claremont before coming to Westmont.
Stelmach is committed to the liberal arts and says teaching at 蜜桃传媒 is her dream job.
鈥淚 think the liberal arts are so important because we鈥檙e exposing students to all aspects of what it means to be human,鈥� she says, 鈥渘ot just in a narrow vocational sense, but really in a wide-ranging exposure to the humanities and the sciences and the social sciences. Along the way we hope our students will become better critical readers, writers and thinkers.鈥�
At UCLA, Stelmach won the Chancellor鈥檚 Dissertation Fellowship and the Teaching Excellence Award.
Stelmach says she has always been a voracious reader, enjoying 鈥淎lice in Wonderland鈥� in the third grade and 鈥淕one with the Wind鈥� in the fourth grade.
Stelmach has contributed reviews and articles to scholarly journals, including 鈥淒ead Deirdre? Myth and Morality in the Irish Literary Revival鈥� in Celtic Studies Association of North America Yearbook and 鈥淔rom Text to Tableau: Ekphrastic Enchantment in 鈥楳rs. Dalloway鈥� and 鈥楾o the Lighthouse鈥欌�� in Studies in the Novel.
Her research explores the transatlantic and diasporic intersections between the literatures of Ireland, Africa, the Caribbean, and the American South. She looks forward to her article, 鈥溾�楢 child of this century鈥�: Juvenilia in the Short Fiction of Eudora Welty and Elizabeth Bowen,鈥� being published next year in 鈥淟ost Colonies: Ireland and the American South.鈥�