University of Wisconsin—Parkside
Hallmarks and Quirks
Things I'm Good At:
- I don't mean to brag (wait—yes, I do), but my English department is awesome. Its focuses range from Medieval, Renaissance, and even Victorian Literature (and that's just the British portion). I also offer courses in Early American, Modern, and Contemporary (graphic novels are included). For the writers out there, not only do I have fiction and poetry classes, but also creative non-fiction, as well.
- I host Open Mic Nights every semester. I get a good group of people to come in and present their work; it can be anything from their writing to music. No stand-up, though…that ended poorly one year. I don't talk about that.
- Worldfest, a week where my students celebrate cultures from all around the world. I told you, I'm welcoming of everyone.
- I love to do theater, too. Most recently, I had a Steampunk version of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Yeah, you read that correctly.
My Top 5 Must-Haves:
- Parking pass. Seriously, if you don't have one of these, you'll regret it.
- Lots of winter clothing for the end of Fall semester and the beginning of Spring semester for when you have to slosh to campus.
- Meal plan. It's good to not worry about cooking.
- Patience for when you wait in line with the rest of the people who wait until the last minute to buy all of their textbooks from the campus bookstore.
- Caffeine. You'll be pulling those all-nighters often. It's college.
Why You Might Have Heard of Me:
- The Mark Ruffalo visited me one time to talk to my theater majors. No big deal.
- My women's cross country and soccer teams can beat yours.
On a regular Saturday night, you can find me...
Normally, my students just hang out on campus, most likely in the cinema. All kinds of cool things can be shown in there. For example, every other weekend, I have a foreign film shown complete with subtitles (because not everyone can be multilingual).
Favorite Hangouts:
- The Den. This is where all the magic happens, like Open Mic Night. You can also play pool and students over the age of twenty-one can drink alcohol after-hours (I know who you are).
- Right above The Den is Brickstone, where you can get all of that delicious gourmet cafeteria food. Whether it's pizza, burgers, or even wraps, you can get it here. Oh, and I should mention you can listen to my own radio station, WIPZ, as you're enjoying your food.
- If you're not feeling Brickstone, you can head down to Wylie Market in the Main Building where I have own on Subway on campus.
- The library is the place to be during finals. It stays open late and even has coffee and food.
Quirks:
- Fun fact: I recently changed my semesters to be shorter, so instead of getting done two days before Christmas, now you get done two weeks before. To balance that out, you also have more time off between Fall and Spring—about a month and a half, to be exact. Students don't start until the first week of February; this also gives you more time to take a Winter class if you feel like it.
- NextLevel Gaming Online is a place on campus where you can either intern or volunteer to write articles and reviews about video games. That's right, video games. Your move, other colleges.
- I have my own published journal where students can get credit for being editors. This magazine is called Straylight and not only does it have a paper version, but also its own website with interviews of famous authors such as Brent Weeks.
Famous Alumni:
- Linda Ham, NASA's first female flight director
- Abdul Jeelani, former NBA basketball player
- Michael Edward Edgerton, composer
- Charles B. Green, Surgeon General of the U.S. Airforce
- John Nichols, progressive journalist and author