Campus Celebrity: Blaine Greteman

When it comes to campus celebrities at Iowa, Professor Blaine Greteman definitely earns this title. As an undergraduate at Oklahoma State, he was the first student to ever become a Rhodes Scholar from his university. If you are unfamiliar with how prestigious this scholarship is, only 32 Americans in the nation are awarded the Rhodes Scholarship each year. Prof. Greteman said it attracted a lot of publicity in his college town; strangers would approach him to shake his hand and commend him for bringing academic fame to his school (as opposed to the usual athletic awards). The public attention was intense and exhausting to the extent that Prof. Greteman was grateful to leave for England–not only to start his prestigious studies–but also to “sink back into being utterly anonymous.” Once at Oxford, the general attitude of the British was to be skeptical about American scholars, but Prof. Greteman found it refreshing to be normal again even though he felt like he had something to prove studying alongside British students. 

During his time at University of Oxford, he worked towards a Masters of Philosophy and gained lots of experience as a writer. Prof. Greteman did media training at Millbank Studios in Central London, and did radio for BBC. He was also a journalist for Time International (the branch of Time Magazine published outside the U.S.) and was always armed with a notebook gathering information about the Iraqi War that was happening at the time. A lot of content he published was about interviews with Iraqi expatriates. Prof. Greteman remembers the difficulties of remaining objective about the war, because he wanted to convey that America is not the liberator of the Middle East, while abiding to Time’s pro war stance.

Working for Time was very fulfilling despite these conflicts. At one of the corporate parties, Prof. Greteman got to meet Bono in person and thought he was “a genuinely nice guy who spent more time than he had to talking to people, and was very generous with his time.” Prof. Greteman also met the Queen at her garden party, Tony Blair (former Prime Minister of the UK), among a other famous figures during his career with Time.

When I asked Prof. Greteman what he thinks young writers can do to help their careers, he stressed the importance of pursuing what you’re passionate about. Internships are essential for getting writing experience as well as building your network, because who you know means everything. Prof. Greteman admits that he was resistant to networking at first. “It’s not about sucking up, think about people you already know in your life that you have established relationships with,” he says. “Always ask for help, your network is more powerful than you think it is.” He also warned against submitting to companies who abuse interns and don’t pay them for their work. Paid internships are always better because the business is already recognizing you as a person who deserves compensation for your time, and are more likely to hire you as a full-time employee. However, you can get good writing experience working for a cause you are passionate about by volunteering your time, too.

Throughout his own journey as a writer, Prof. Greteman has written about nuclear energy for the World Nuclear Association based in London; covered various energy issues doing science writing published in Ode; written about politics, policy analysis, and business writing. He advises young writers not to close off pathways between different writing styles because it is to your advantage if you’re well versed in many different subjects. In the long-term you are a writer who needs to develop her writing skills. It’s also ok if your career takes different paths after 3 or 4 years; the key is to find what interests you in the industry.