Campus Celebrity: English Professor Emily Wicktor

1) Where are you originally from?
 
I’m so Minnesotan that I’m almost a cartoon, and I have the accent to prove it!  I grew up in St. Cloud, Minnesota, on the Mississippi River.  
 
2) Where did you go to college?  What did you major in?
 
I earned a BA in English and Women’s Studies, and an MA in English at St. Cloud State University in St. Cloud, Minnesota.  I earned a PhD in English at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, KS.
 
3) How long have you lived in New Orleans?
 
I moved to New Orleans in August of 2011.  Prior to this, I visited New Orleans in 1994.  Being a tourist was great fun, but being a resident of this city is far better.    
 
4) What classes do you teach at Tulane?
 
Currently, I teach English 1010 in the First-Year Writing Program of the English department.
 
5) What do you enjoy most about teaching here?
 
The idyllic Tulane campus charms me every day.  It’s a great pleasure to walk to campus each day and teach in such a beautiful setting.  Plus, Tulane students are smart, fun, witty, and committed people willing to work hard to earn their degrees and serve the community.  
 
6) What is the hardest aspect of teaching here?
 
I know it’s probably cliché to remark on this, but the bayou weather is often brutal for a Minnesotan.  It’s hard to feel composed and professorial after a very sweaty walk to campus when the dew point is 80 degrees!  
  
7) You taught at KU prior to teaching at Tulane.  Do you sense a difference in the type of students here and/or the community here?
 
I’m not sure I see a specific difference in the student population of Tulane versus KU, but I do see how Tulane’s Center for Public Service and the service-learning graduation requirement here attracts students who thrive as “experiential learners.”  Through service-learning programs, and courses like those offered through TIDES, Tulane students forge meaningful and purposeful connections to both academic and community goals.  I value and welcome this as part of the unique spirit of Tulane students.  
 
 
8) Some people would say that in our professionally minded world, there isn’t much you can do with a degree in English.  What do you think about this?
 
I’d say now, more than ever, the world needs more thoughtful and critical readers and writers.  I can’t think of a more useful degree in order to meet this need.
  
9) If it was your last meal in New Orleans, where would you go?  What would you order?
 
Yikes!  My last meal forever?  Or just in New Orleans?  I hope it’s the latter!  I’d choose a cafe or bistro brunch, and the longer and more leisurely, the better.  I know New Orleans is a town of seemingly infinite gastronomic pleasures, but I think these come together best in Sunday brunch: poached eggs and cheesy grits and crab cakes and endless black coffee!