Profile
October 28,1999
9
Jean Schwind continues to make impact on students' lives
Jeff^anders
The Pendulum
After 10 years at Elon, En
glish Professor Jean Schwind’s
goals haven’t changed.
“I want to be a teacher who
has an impact on students’ lives,”
she said.
“Elon students tend to be very
extroverted and active, and I think
they underrate...chewing on ideas. I
want them to come to value intro
version and meditative thinking.”
Those who don’t know her might
ask who Schwind is to make such
generalizations.
Those who do know her,
though, have a different opinion.
^ “She just won’t hand us the
information,” said one of her stu
dents.
“She makes us think — re
ally think — about things and then
discuss. She’s the kind of professor
We need.
What brought her to Elon, a
college known for its volunteerism
that has been criticized by its own
students in recent years of a lack of
intellectual depth?
“Well, I hate to admit it as a
feminist, I followed my husband to
North Carolina,” she said. Her hus
band, Thomas, with whom she has
no children, is an administrator at
The University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill.
“I was lucky there was an
opening here,” she said.
A St. Olaf’s and University
of Minnesota graduate, Schwind
serves in more organizations at Elon
than the new library has delays. She
is the faculty adviser for Omicron
Delta Kappa, Chair of the General
Studies Council, Coordinator of Lit
erature Concentration for the En
glish Department and a member of
the Women’s Studies subject com
mittee, Academic Ethos Commit
tee and the College’s Mission State
ment Revision committee.
She spends her little free time
reading, and doing some writing of
her own.
“I think it’s a tragedy that
students don’t read unless it’s re
quired,” she said. “That’s one of the
things I’d really like to change.”
Schwind’s favorite authors include
Tony Morrison, author of Beloved;
the verbose serial novelist Charles
Dickens; and well-known author
William Faulkner.
“I’m kind of a workaholic,
too,” she said. “I’m in awe of people
who can raise kids and stay in
volved in their career at the same
time.”^
When it comes to her favorite
class to teach, Schwind says she
believes College Writing to be of
paramount importance.
“It’s just such a strong foun
dational element,” she said. “People
make all kinds of judgments about
how educated you are and how smart
you are based on how well you
write. I like it the most because
there’s just so much at stake there.”
As judgments go, even in
today’s culture people continue to
make snap judgments about those
with disabilities.
Schwind, who suffered from
a debilitating bout of the measles as
a child, was left with severely de
creased hearing in both ears. The
measles gave her a severe fever,
which in turn burned out the nerve
endings in her eardrums.
“I’ve adapted pretty well,”
she said, “and sometimes I actually
like it. Sometimes students are tired
and just want to sit in the back and
do nothing — to not be visible.
Hearing aids can only do so much,
and I have to supplement what I do
hear with reading lips. I can’t read
lips from the back of the room, so I
hold my classes in a roundtable,
group discussion.”
Schwind also said that what
she does miss are the conversations
one hears in passing: the things that
aren’t intended for her, or as she
puts it, “The Juicy Stuff.”
“Other times, though, it re
ally is a blessing,” she said. “I’ve
had students with learning disabili
Alan Medeiros / The Pendulum
Jean Schwind talks to The Pendulum about
her Elon career and her goals for the future.
ties, who are shy, or for one reason
or another can’t participate as other
students can, and I get it. I get what
they’re going through, and I hope
that they can identify with me like I
can identify with them.”
With her dedication to better
ing Elon, her involvement and her
compassionwith her students’
needs, Schwind will easily be re
membered as a teacher who has
made an impact.
Elon Career Center ♦ lOlDuke ♦ 584-2538 ♦ Monday-Fiiday ♦ 8;00a.m^- s:oo p.m.
FOCUS
CAREER
EXPLORATION
SERIES
RoQm 115 McMichael Science Center
5:00 - 7:00 p.m.
Careers in Science - November 8
Careers in Communications - November 9
Careers in Social Service - November 10
Careers in Leisure & Sports Med./Mgt. - Nov. 11
Careers in Business - December 1
Sign up at the Career Center or call us at 584-2538
to reserve a spot for any of the panel
presentations that interest you.
Wake Forest University
Graduate/Professional School Fair
Tuesday, November 2 ~ 3:30 - 5:30 p.m.
Benson Center - Room 401
Elon Students Invited
Stop by the Career Center for list of schools and
directions to WFU
WORKSHOPS
(to prepare you for the Job Fair on November 17-18 and Fall On-campus Recruiting)
Success at the Job Fair Wednesday, November 10 3:30 - 4 30 pm
Interview Prep and Practice Friday, November 12 j 0:00 - I 1, 00 am
Success at the Job Fair Monday, November 15 3:00-4:00 pm
Interview Prep and Practice Tuesday, November 16 1:30 - 2:30 pm
All workshops held in the Career Center in Duke 101