Favorite book: Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler
Favorite movie: The Matrix, Groundhog Day
Favorite music: Paul Simon, Ryan Adams
Favorite food: I don’t have a favorite food but I have a favorite food experience. Every Wednesday my husband and my two sons and I go out to dinner no matter what! We usually go to a great pizza place in Saratoga called Caputo’s Pizzeria.
Where are you from?
CF: I’m from Ballston Spa, New York.
HC: Did you always want to teach college English?
HC: Did you teach anywhere else before you began teaching at Siena?
CF: Siena was the first teaching job that I ever had but it was simultaneous with a teaching job that I had at the College of Saint Rose. The first year I was an adjunct I was a student at the University of Albany working on my Doctorate and I was teaching an Introductory Writing and Literature course at the College of Saint Rose and a Writing 100 class here at Siena, so it all kind of happened at the same time. It was a little hard to work out logistically because my Writing 100 class began twenty minutes after my Introductory Writing and Literature course, but I was never late!
HC: What made you want to teach Siena?
CF: I had a few months during my junior and senior year that I would like to stay. A college campus could entail so many jobs, so I knew my options were open. I was also a student here and I am a local person, so I really did see the campus as home and felt that I really grew up on this campus. I was very nervous for my job interview here because my fear was if I didn’t land the assistant professorship job, then I wouldn’t be able to stay.
HC: You teach a variety of classes, including literary perspectives and honors seminars. Do you have a favorite?
CF: My specialty is American Literature, but my favorite class is always the class I’m teaching. I can’t really explain it, but right now I have three favorite classes. I have two Literary Perspectives classes and I always look forward to them because they are so different from each other and they always come in and surprise me! I’m also teaching the Novel and I love this class because I have such a variety of students. I have students of all different years and different majors, so English majors aren’t the majority of the class! I really love discussing books with students who are about to launch themselves into the world after graduation.
HC: Is there any other class that you would like to teach that you haven’t yet?
CF: I would like to teach Science Fiction in the future! Dr. Clements teaches this class and I always so interested in what she’s doing. I would like to teach a class that incorporates film in some way. I would like to teach a class that introduces Digital Humanities. This would have to be a created course through the School of Liberal Arts. This is something I am just getting into, the analysis of humans through technology. I am very interested in this and there’s A LOT of learning that I would have to go through in order to be able to teach a class on it. It’s really cutting edge right now but it would take me about two years to plan everything.
HC: In your classes, you really emphasize class participation. Why do you feel that class participation is so important?
CF: I find it very interesting to see how people think when they are speaking out loud. I think when students raise their hand and they make a statement or a point, it’s a very important learning moment. It’s an introductions for students into a learning community, it allows them to enter literary conversations. I think it’s extremely important for classroom dynamic because students are more engaged when other students are talking. I couldn’t image standing up for an hour and a half just reading notes out loud! I like to think that students will be helped in the learning process when they hear their peers thinking out loud. I start right from literary perspectives with requiring students to participate in class, because it really is very hard for students to speak up in class.
HC: Do you have any advice to give to a student who is afraid to participate in class?
CF: Absolutely! Step one, go see your professor. I can always tell which students in class are going to have trouble in class and I want to encourage them as much as I can. I try to use humor in class and if a student comes to see me, I try to make a deal with them. It’s a gradual movement and students come in very concerned about how much class participation is worth in my classes. My goal is to get my students to speak clearly and coherently in the classroom despite being nervous. I tell my students to accept being nervous! That anxiety is always going to be there, you have to somehow use that anxiety to your advantage.
HC: What is the best advice you’ve ever received? What advice (in general) would you give to students?
CF: I had a professor once that told me I didn’t seem like a very empathetic person, that the manner in which I wrote sounded like I was constantly ridiculing. I have never forgotten that. It’s important to not be just analytical, being empathetic is also really important. I want to push my students and I know I’m aggressive in the classroom, but I also try to remind myself that we are in this together.
HC: If you could meet any author in history, who would it be? Why?
CF:It has to be Benjamin Franklin. I’m fascinated by Benjamin Franklin’s writings and the historical research on his life and that contrast and tension between how Benjamin Franklin presents himself and the historical reality. There’s a lot of mystery on Benjamin Franklin and I would really like to solve that mystery!