The Quill #7: AWE News #2

Kimberly Rouse began her college journey as a marketing major, but a course with Dr. Paul Belanger (Dr. B) during the pandemic sparked a pivot.

“My Professional Writing class with Dr. B changed my life,” she says. “Dr. B convinced me to finish the semester instead of dropping out (as I was tempted to since things were so hard at the time). Being able to stick through the semester paved the pathway for me to smoothly return to UWGB and finally finish my bachelor’s degree.”

Encouraged by Dr. B to stay enrolled despite the challenges, she discovered a passion for language that eventually drew her back to UW‑Green Bay as an English major with hopes of becoming a Japanese-to-English translator after a hiatus spent working full‑time and teaching herself Japanese. That same mentorship introduced her to Sigma Tau Delta and set her on a path of scholarly curiosity that now shapes her graduate school ambitions.

Through editing for Sheepshead Review, writing 50,000 words in Novel Writing Workshop, and diving into cross‑textual analyses (like a metaphysical analysis of Annie Dillard’s Living by Fiction and Pilgrim at Tinker Creek), Kimberly honed the critical thinking skills she sees as essential in an era of AI misinformation. Those experiences propelled her toward graduate research in new-media writing, which explores alternative storytelling forms to reach audiences beyond traditional print.She’ll be attending UW-Milwaukee’s English M.A. program in the fall.

“Our English/AWE programs are so in-depth that I feel more than prepared to continue studying English in graduate school,” she says. “I have learned to think critically about my own writing and the stories I read outside of class. Those skills helped to develop and hone my writing technique. [They have also] made me realize the importance of critical thinking skills and have developed a strong interest in me to study how to make these skills more accessible in an era of anti-intellectualism.”

Though she still thinks translating is a worthy profession, she says her time as an English major at UWGB has inspired her “to be a researcher, a scholar, and perhaps even become a future professor.”

Looking ahead, she’s excited (and a little nervous) to meet new colleagues and pursue questions that may never have final answers, but, she says, that’s the point: “Curiosity is vital to learning. I have grown comfortable with questions, with searching for answers, and with the realization that some questions are unanswerable. But the answer isn’t necessarily the most important part; it’s asking the question.”