Geoffrey Bateman
Literature PhD

Where did you get your undergraduate degree? What was your major? Where did you get your MA and/or PhD and what was each in? Why did you choose DU?
Long ago, in the melancholic mists of the Pacific Northwest, I earned my BA in English at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington. But it took me awhile to find my way to this major. I dabbled a bit in music education, mathematics, and German, ultimately finding an intellectual home in the English Department, thanks in large part to a lovely advisor who specialized in rhetoric and composition studies.

A few years after finishing my undergraduate degree with a bit of a detour teaching English in Mattersburg, Austria, and a stint as an HIV prevention program coordinator in Portland, Oregon I started my first round of graduate school at the University of California, Santa Barbara. I took my MA exams in 18th and 19th century British Literature and theories of gender and sexuality. I took time off to start a family with two lesbians, and while I changed diapers and made baby food in my Cuisinart, I worked for a research center that studies gays and lesbians in the military. I ended up returning to doctoral work at the University of Colorado at Boulder, where I am finishing my dissertation on The Queer Frontier. In this project, Im trying to queer the American West by examining all sorts of texts that feature same-sex desire, racialized subjectivities, and alternative gender identities that resist the respectable norms of late nineteenth and early twentieth century America.

I chose DU for a few reasons: I like working on a smaller campus and teaching courses with fewer students. Its rewarding to be able to have the time to get to know students on a much more individual basis. But I love living near the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, and working at DU lets me stay in Denver with friends and family.

Describe what your writing process is like:
Messy. When I start drafting, I overwrite and generate notebooks full of random thoughts and obsessive close readings of passages that seem interesting and relevant in the moment. Sometimes they are, and sometimes not, but I find that I have to write around and through a text or a question quite a bit before I really figure out what I want to say. The hardest part is usually taking the reams of notes and scribbles and mad dashes and finding ways to organize this material into something insightful. Ive been known to cover my office walls with paragraphs cut from documents. I use tape and bits of clay to post my ideas in front of me and move them around until I find the best way to organize my work.

What do you enjoy most about writing?
Editing. I love to take a substantial, mostly finished draft and find ways to polish it until it shines. Tinkering with verbs, cutting the crap out, finding that perfect phrase these are delightful ways to spend an afternoon. Okay, I know I sound like such a geek. But what can I say? I love to write and muck around with language.

Briefly, how would you describe your teaching philosophy?
Im a very forgiving and encouraging person in the classroom, but one who sets fairly high expectations for student writing. I believe that all students can learn to think more critically and write more effectively, so I do everything I can to help students find their voices, gain confidence, and figure out whatever it is that they need to figure out to succeed as writers in the college classroom and beyond. Because I firmly believe this, I also expect it, so students end up working very hard in my classes, but even as they might grouse about the work, they come to appreciate the results in their writing.

What drew you to become a writing teacher?
I love to work with students on process and unlocking the mysteries of working through a problem. (Hmmm maybe thats my math-brain coming through.) I also struggled in my own writing as a college student, so I know firsthand how students feel who are confused by university expectations. In a way I almost feel obligated to pass down the helpful advice that my professors gave me and demystify this process for students in my courses.

What do you enjoy most about teaching writing?
Reading and responding to student work. Even when I feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of papers that sit on my desk, I love to see students ideas unfold, especially in their drafts. Then to revisit a piece and see how theyve learned to respond more effectively or more insightfully to an assignmentits fascinating and so rewarding to see their determination and hard work pay off.

What are your hobbies, outside interests, and/or guilty pleasures?
Smart and sassy television series. Right now, Im currently obsessed with Ugly Betty. Who wouldnt get sucked into the campy world of high Manhattan fashion full of outsiders and misfits? By far, though, my guiltiest pleasure is reading fantasy and science fiction novels, especially those with dragons or talking horses. I know, its embarrassing. My partner doesnt get it, but its an addiction that started at a young age. I dont think theres any hope for me

Name an unusual or little-known fact about yourself.
I was an Eagle Scout and played football in high school. I guess thats two facts, but folks tend to be surprised when I share them at parties. Its fun to unsettle peoples expectations.

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