Composition Featured Faculty
Meet some of our wonderful faculty members who teach Composition courses in the General Education program at Kutztown! This month's featured faculty member is Dr. Jennifer Topale!
Dr. Jennifer Topale, an assistant professor in the Department of English, teaches Composition courses, including sections of CMP 100 and CMP 200. She is the first to be featured in our new Composition Featured Faculty section! Keep reading for a short interview and information about Dr. Topale:
- Do you have a favorite moment from one of your Composition classes?
"One of the things I love, is that in my CMP 200 course, I do 2 small group activities with the students before they start their big research for the semester. One of them is having students work on a project using research on the internet, looking at unethical science experiments, and using online resources. The second project requires them to come to the library space and only use physical resources available in the library. This throws them off, since there’s so much focus in secondary education on doing internet research so they aren’t as familiar with physical resources and books. We talk about how to locate a book, how to use the index of a book, that you may not have time to use the whole book and how best to use that resource and access that text. It’s interesting how much students will say that the internet research is very quick and they can find information really fast, but they have a better understanding of the topic when they’re reading it in a book."
- Why do you think teaching Composition is important?
"I believe teaching Composition is important because job markets are continually changing and students come to university with a variety of experiences and non-traditional academic backgrounds. It's important for students to have the ability to effectively write and communicate their ideas and to be able to express themselves, and be successful in whatever path they choose. You never want to close a door, and if a student wants to go back to graduate school or change careers, having those skills will be helpful for any choices in the future."
- Do you have any hobbies where Composition helps you?
"As a reader, composition is so intertwined with that hobby, and that helps me to see different ways that people write, which in turn helps me in my own writing." If there is a book club to join, Dr. Topale will join it!
- What is your favorite thing about Kutztown University?
"KU has the best student body of any university I have ever taught at. There is something very special about KU students. They are ethical, conscious of who they are in this world, kind and compassionate, and they enter the classroom trusting that I am on their side and trusting that I can teach them something."
Thank you, Dr. Topale, for being part of the KU community and an integral part of our Composition faculty!