Tim Brookes
Program Director: Professional Writing
Associate Professor & Program Director, Professional Writing
Graduate school: Pembroke College, Oxford
Twisting Your Words
Scholar, author, poet, publisher, entrepreneur, journalist, musician, cricketer, artist and champion of endangered alphabets across time and space, Professor Tim Brookes will make you think differently about writing… and thinking… and making money… and yourself… and your future… and what’s possible as a writer—and he’ll do it now. Right now.
HOW DID YOU BECOME A TEACHER? WHY?
As an undergrad in England, I fell in love with a girl from Des Moines, Iowa, who was doing her junior year abroad. I came over here the summer after the end of my second year and hitchhiked all around the country. When I got back to England, I decided to apply for a teaching post in places where I had traveled so I could get back here. By an amazing series of coincidences, I landed a job at UVM, in the English Department, and discovered I loved teaching (which was a surprise; I had originally thought teaching would be dull and the profession of last resort).
WHY WRITING?
Growing up, I went through all the usual phases: fighter pilot… professional cricketer, and then writer: I can remember thinking from the very first time I was aware that there was such a thing as a passport that I wanted to be able to put “writer” in the space marked “profession.”
WHAT WAS THE MOST SURPRISING THING ABOUT WORKING AT CHAMPLAIN?
The very first thing I noticed when I got to Champlain [2005] was the online discussions between faculty and staff members that went out via broadcast e-mail. It immediately created a sense of collegiality. I had been teaching in higher ed on and off for 20 years, and that kind of institution-wide, division- or department-wide conversation never took place. There was very spirited discussion and debate happening, and that was the first clue that Champlain was a very different kind of place where people are interested in their colleagues, interested in ideas, interested in change. Here we can make things happen faster than the pace of continental drift.
WHAT WOULD A STUDENT, NEW TO ONE OF YOUR CLASSES, FIND SURPRISING ABOUT IT?
My accent.
WHAT HAS BEEN THE MOST REWARDING PART OF YOUR JOB?
The most rewarding part recently has been developing the Champlain College Publishing Initiative. I get to work one on one or in small teams with students and see what they are really capable of. It’s spectacular to work in real-life settings with each student. I am constantly impressed and delighted by the ideas they have and with their commitment. I get to see them at their very best.
WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU THINK PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS SHOULD KNOW ABOUT CHAMPLAIN/YOUR DIVISION/YOUR MAJOR?
That I’m constantly bugging them to take charge of their own lives. I see it as my job to help them to discover how to do that.
WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE STRENGTH OF THE WAY CHAMPLAIN TEACHES ITS STUDENTS?
We encourage them to think about their futures and their lives—not just in an academic sense, but in the context of the world that they are going to face. Consequently, we are going to get them to start encountering that world as soon as possible before they graduate.
FINISH THIS SENTENCE: THE STUDENTS THAT ARE THE MOST SUCCESSFUL AT CHAMPLAIN ARE THOSE WHO:
Take their education into their own hands. Those who take the time to develop a sense of what their own interests are, what their sense of direction is, and then to choose courses and extracurricular activities accordingly—so when they graduate, they don’t just have a Champlain degree, they should feel they have “their” degree.
Student game art work by Andrew Lee