It’s easy to imagine our professors as otherworldly creatures who do nothing but grade papers and assign homework. According to fledging English Professor, Njelle Hamilton, this is not at all the case.
Dr. Hamilton, who has been at PSU since Fall 2012 started with a run-down of an average week in her life because in all honesty. “There is no ‘typical’ day,” said Hamilton.
She teaches three days each week, and on her non-teaching days, she spends her time doing her own reading to prepare for class, at times she reads 700 pages each week just to stay on top of each of her four classes’ assigned readings. She makes a lot of notes for herself to prepare for the class days. Typically, Hamilton said, “Mondays and Fridays are grading days,” but she spaces her grading based on the deadlines for upcoming assignments.
When all of her class-related work is squared away, she fulfills spare time with research on Caribbean lit and music, her personal concentration. She studies articles, songs, archives, drafts, and edits articles in that area.
In addition, she is also an academic advisor. So, she has to set aside time for meeting with her advisees, answering emails, and meeting with her every day students. As if that isn’t a lot for a professor’s plate, she is the co-chair of the President’s Commission of Diversity, which meets twice a month. “Committee work and departmental stuff have helped getting acclimated to the environment of the University and has helped meet a lot of people,” said Hamilton.
When asked what the ‘best’ part of her job is, Dr. Hamilton smiled and said, “reading student work, because when students say interesting things, come to their own conclusions, and understandings of their pieces, it’s a great moment.” An avid reader her entire life, her father having owned a bookstore and her mother a teacher herself, she enjoys reading for pleasure as well as the rigorous reading involved in keeping up to date with student readings.
“It is more than just teaching on teaching days. It is a lot of tedious preparation work for class and when she’s not in the classroom sometimes six hours is spent to prepare for just one class,” said Hamilton. She puts in 40-50 hours of outside work on a slow week.
There is more to being an English professor than just assigning papers and grading them. A lot of work goes into what English professors do for the two or three weekly sessions.