Jennifer Campbell
Writing Lecturer, Rhetoric and Writing PhD

Personal info: Where did you get your undergraduate degree? What was your major? Where did you get your Masters and/or PhD and what was it in? Why did you choose DU?
I earned my BA (summa cum laude, thank you) from the University of Evansville with an English major and a sociology minor. My Masters and PhD are both from Auburn University, though I had one very valuable year of coursework at the University of Arizona. I chose DU because I really value undergraduate writing, and I was impressed by the time and resources DU has chosen to devote to this independent program as well as the Marsico WAC efforts. The fact that I would get to live in Denver, work with Doug Hesse, and have so many colleagues devoted to writing helped, too.

Describe what your writing process is like:
I do a lot of writing in my head while I drive, shower, walk . . . sometimes I even compose in dreams, and then I have to wake up and try to remember everything. Because of this, I often write in lists and chunks, then I backfill with appropriate research, transitions, etc. I have a tendency to revise and edit as I go, which is good for writing on a deadline, but I have also come to rely more on feedback from others whenever possible. Before starting grad school, I never had a peer review or did any substantive revision. Ive always been a solid one-draft writer, but I know that my writing is more polished and audience-centered now. I always urge my students to give themselves time to percolate and time to really polish their work because I wish someone would have taught me those things when I was younger.

What do you enjoy most about writing?
I love it when I have the Big Ideawhen I make an interpretive leap or find a subject or connection thats really worth exploring. Then I get very excited about tracking down the published research or designing a study; it sounds totally dorky, but research is like a treasure hunt for me. (Unfortunately, after that I have a tendency to get bogged down in the ideas of others, and it often takes a concentrated effort of will to actually write my own articles or chapters and share them with anyone else.)

Briefly, how would you describe your teaching philosophy?
My goal as a teacher is to help all students further develop their rhetorical skills and sensibilities because I believe that competence and confidence in communication are essential to individual and community empowerment. Ive found that the best way to help students is to meet them where they are, to be flexible and innovative in helping them get where they want to go, and to keep a sense of humor while taking the students and their work seriously.

What drew you to become a writing teacher?
I had no choice. I actually went to graduate school to specialize in Medieval and Renaissance literature, but I was assigned to teach a freshman comp course and had to take a composition theory course my first quarter. I found the subject matter very satisfying to my pragmatic and activist sensibilities, and I just fell in love with the teaching.

What do you enjoy most about teaching writing?
Theres something special that happens when a group of young people start to discover themselves and their talents with and through writing. And in the process, I learn so much from my students about a wide variety of topics that I might never pursue on my own. Any time I havent been teaching, Ive really missed that.

What are your hobbies and outside interests, or guilty pleasures?
Lately, my pleasures havent been too guilty. Ive been on a Neil Gaiman marathon for my pleasure reading. John, Cate, and I have been doing a lot of hiking to enjoy our beautiful surroundings, and Ive started exercising more, so I feel great. I recently had a very fulfilling adventure with a few pottery classes, and I hope to keep trying new things along those lines. Im thinking belly dancing next.

Name an unusual or little-known fact about yourself.
Um, that I want to try belly dancing. It usually takes a few glasses of wine before Im willing to share the really unusual and little-known facts.

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