1.)
What year did you graduate and what was your
area of emphasis?
2005
Professional Writing
2.)
Where are you now, and what are you doing?
I currently live in Woodbury Minnesota.
I’ve spent the last 4.5 years selling capital equipment around the world.
3.)
Could you tell us a little about the paths
you’ve traveled since you graduated?
My first
job post graduation was working as a residential carpenter (I used my degree 0%
at that particular job). I then took a
glamorous job mowing lawns and running a landscaping a company (bringing my
total usage of my English degree to a whopping 0x0). After a year of largely manual labor I fell
into corporate America. Full blown, suit
and tie, short hair corporate America. I
took a job as a professional recruiter and worked my way into a sales
position. At that point I realized that
using my degree in anything more than an implied fashion was going to be
difficult. I decided to see where a job
as a sales guy would take me. I ended up
working as a technical sales person for a company that supplied nuclear
material handling solutions to companies worldwide. I was able to go to Europe, and Japan as well
as all around the United States and work with some very interesting people on
some very interesting projects.
4.)
Was there something you had to do here which you
felt was a waste of time?
My time at UWP is probably the
only time in my life I will be able to focus 100% on just pursuing academic
knowledge. I can’t really classify the
pursuit of knowledge a waste of time.
Had I been asked that question when I graduated, I would have listed off
a litany of classes I thought were “useless” or “pointless” (largely any
classes focusing on grammar, foreign language, and almost all math
courses). The reality is those classes
were classes I was either A) too prideful to take seriously, and therefore
classes I did poorly in or B) courses that I felt had no bearing on my
future. My attitude showed a stunning lack of foresight and maturity, as
the classes I felt were outside the scope of what I conceived to be useable
knowledge are the classes I rely most heavily on now.
I do not carry a single second of
regret in the major I chose to pursue. I
do however; deeply regret not taking the time and effort necessary to excel in
academic areas that were outside my talents.
I was fortunate enough to go to a good university and be exposed to everything
a university education is supposed to be about; learning as much as you can,
about as much as you can. Instead I
chose to learn as much as I could about the things I was good at, and largely ignore
the rest. Not working hard enough when I
had the chance was my only wasted time.
5.)
Is there a class or classes that you wish now
you could have taken, but didn’t? If so, why?
I would have taken more science
courses, specifically physics and chemistry.
My career path has forced me into some very technical situations,
situations where I have had to sit down and talk intelligently about physics
and chemical reactions with PhD Nuclear Physicists and Doctoral Candidates in Chemistry
(please keep in mind these people are not asking me my opinion on their work,
that would be like asking the family pet to edit your manuscript, it’s a bad
idea). Any and all of the knowledge I
have on those areas of thought have been through my own reading and exposure in
industry situations.
Having an English Degree has
helped me communicate with people both orally and in writing in relative ways. If I had studied more hard sciences I could
relate to many different people on a much different level and be more
effective.
One caveat, Physics and Chemistry
are incredibly interesting, math for the sake of math, is a deep black
depressing hole.
Classes I took that are an
absolute must for anyone in the English Program.
Listed in no particular order:
History of the English Language
Advanced Writing
Grammar
Rhetoric
6.)
Can you tell us about one or two high points of
your life since you’ve graduated?
My high points are pretty mundane,
very satisfying, though largely normal.
I’ve been married since my senior year at Platteville (in layman’s
terms, a long time) the fact that my wife still finds any redeeming qualities
in my exceedingly bad habit riddled persona is pretty neat. I have two kids that will no doubt outsmart
me by about half way through preschool, and a very nice house in the suburbs of
Saint Paul (and an enormous dog).
7.)
Do you ever write for fun? (If you do, can we
follow up and interview you for our writing blog later on?) yes
My wife started a blog, and lets
me contribute to it occasionally. It’s
largely about all the work we’ve done to make our house less dated. I’m typically too busy actually updating the
house to write about it.
8.)
Is an English Degree applicable in areas outside
of writing and teaching?
An English Degree is a great
foundation for a career. I have been fortunate
enough to develop relationships with Company Presidents, Government Officials,
and Scientists, all from divergent backgrounds, I was only able to do that was because I
developed a deep understanding of how people react to words and language while
studying English at UWP. In the world
outside of college class rooms there is a dearth of effective
communication. Corporate communication
is mired in a dearth of buzzwords, and catch phrases all presented in a
hackneyed contrived format. The biggest
advantage people can bring to the table in any career endeavor is the ability
to work hard and communicate in a succinct and concise fashion.
Having an English Degree allows me
to distill very complex ideas into easy to understand sentences. Employers will never put “be able to make
complex ideas understandable without losing any pertinent information” on a job
requirement, that won’t happen. Having
the ability to accurately synthesize and disseminate ideas is crucially
important to any employer. The key is,
demonstrating the ability to write and orate, via face to face contact and
written correspondence. People communicate more readily in writing today (text
and emails) than ever before, being able to write well is indispensable.
9.)
Is there alum you think we should contact?
Ben Landsee, James Schrader, and
Thom Pitcher those guys were the three smartest most talented guys I met in the
English program.
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