English professor grew up reading what she teaches
Jennifer Sinor always did well in her English classes growing up.
Sinor, assistant professor of English, began her involvement in English when she was young.
“I grew up reading a lot,” Sinor said. “I had an early interest in reading and I always did well in my English classes, as opposed to my science and math classes. I used to write short stories and I even started a novel once.”
She said her English teachers were always her favorite because they usually taught in nontraditional ways and would always have exciting projects.
So for her, it just seemed natural to follow her love of English. Sinor said she just followed that through college, so when it came time to pick a major it was almost a default. She knew she wasn’t going to do math or science and she knew that English was such a versatile degree.
“It was never a very conscious decision on my part to go into English until I went and got my Ph.D.,” she said.
Sinor got her undergraduate at the University of Nebraska. She then taught in Hawaii and got her master’s at the University of Hawaii. Then she went on to the University of Michigan where she got her doctorate degree in English. She started at Utah State University in the fall of 2000.
“I love all parts of my job,” Sinor said.
The most exciting part, she said, is teaching.
“You never know what’s going to happen [when you teach],” she said. “You never know what’s going to unfold that day. The constant surprise and excitement that not knowing brings keeps me interested and excited and makes me look forward to each of my classes.”
She said teaching is where she gets her sense of self and her professional identity of being somebody in this world who is making a difference.
Her least favorite part of teaching is grading. She said it’s so hard because a community of students is created where fantastic ideas are brought out and then she has to turn around and assess where students are at.
“I feel a responsibility to be honest with students and let them know where their writing is at,” Sinor said. “But it seems contrary to the whole project of education, which is joining together to create knowledge.”
She said she wishes there were other alternatives to grading.
A plus to being the assistant professor of English is the traveling, Sinor said, which she gets to do quite a bit. Usually she goes to two national conferences each year, where she meets with colleagues from other universities and gets to see how other people think.
“You get to learn the cutting edge of discipline, and what the newest way of thinking is,” she said.
Sinor also had the opportunity to go to Hawaii for a new faculty grant for the College of Humanities two summers ago to do research.
“I write a lot from personal experiences. All my traveling ends up being research for projects spinning around in my head,” she said.
English wasn’t necessarily a logical profession for her to enter. Her whole family is made up of lawyers and she actually applied to law school at one time.
“I felt like I’ve been given so much in my life and I’m so lucky in so many ways,” she said. “I looked really hard at my abilities and how I could contribute back to the world. I really feel like the classroom is a place where you can envision a better world, and you can think about what that looks like, and then you can go out and try and make that happen.”
Many of Sinor’s students say they appreciate the openness of the discussions in class, and that everybody’s ideas are welcomed.
Lania DiPrima, a senior majoring in liberal arts, said, “[Professor Sinor] is very open-minded and she’s willing to look at all different aspects. She is accepting of others, and she teaches us to be accepting of others as well.”
Josh Bastian, a junior majoring in biology, said Sinor does a good job at getting people involved.
“Our desks are put in a circle which sparks discussion, and makes it a more intimate atmosphere,” he said. “She’s not afraid to share her opinions, and she allows others to share theirs.”
Sinor said, “If they see me as a professor excited about the subject, then that in turn makes the students excited.”
Sinor said she thinks the classroom can transform the world to a place where there’s justice and nobody suffers.
“I realized the things that I could do well, and I thought about how I could put those abilities towards a profession where I could make a difference,” she said.
-sarahwest@cc.usu.edu