How did you get interested in your field of study?

Ben Eggleston, assistant professor of philosophy
“I took some courses in college in philosophy that I liked, so I stuck with it.”

Stephen Parker, professor of Slavic languages and literature
“Russian was my first language; my parents were Russian. Then, (Vladimir) Nabokov was one of my professors at Cornell University. At the time I was choosing between genetics and literature. Under his influence, I chose literature.”

David Holmes, psychology professor, Kansas City, Kan.
“I just had an inspiring professor of general psychology when I was a freshman in college and I got excited about the field. It was a way I could combine science with helping people.”

Janna Knittel, English lecturer
“My mom used to read to me, all three of us girls, a lot. We all grew up avid readers. I attribute to that my love of language and literature, that was a really huge influence. It wasn’t until college that someone suggested I go to graduate school in English.”

Chris McKitterick, technical writing liaison
“I graduated from here 10 years ago with a creative writing master’s (degree) and ended up in Seattle. I got a temporary job at Microsoft doing technical editing, then became full time as a technical writer. I came back here every summer to teach a course in science-fiction writing, so I knew people in the department and they asked me to come develop a program here.”