Professor Seymour, languages and literature, acclimates to smoky mountain home

Christina Seymour, a recent grad from West Virginia University, where she

obtained her Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing, is the newest addition

to the Language and Literature Division of Maryville College this year. This

semester Seymour has taken on the responsibility of leading the campus literary

magazine, Impressions, as well as teaching Literature 290 and Composition

110. In the spring semester she will be teaching Public Relations as well as

Composition 130.

 

Before coming to MC, Seymour published multiple works including her

most recent poetry publications in The Cimarron Review, Quiddity International

Literary Journal and North American Review. In addition, she worked for the

Center for Literary Computing in collaboration with the West Virginia University

Press doing presswork. This experience prepared her for teaching courses like

Public Relations at MC. Also during her time at WVU, Seymour helped start a

literary magazine much like Impressions.

 

In addition to her many other qualifications, Seymour has experience teaching

at the college level. During her three years in grad school at WVU, Seymour

taught as a teaching assistant in composition, poetry, business writing and

technical writing classes.

 

“I prefer the interaction of teaching, and I really like the psychological aspects

of it. Especially with writing, I like getting people to hear their own voice and I

like that process,” Seymour said. And, although she is an introvert, she loves

students and interacting with them.

 

“Maryville College stood out to me because it’s a private liberal arts college,

and I like a smaller setting. I like working one on one with students,” Seymour

said.

 

She also thought that working at MC would be interesting because she was

being asked to teach a multitude of things rather than one course. Seymour feels

that throughout her career she has taught herself to be versatile which has been

beneficial in this type of position. “I specialized in English, but I liked all kinds of

English, and in addition to English, I like sociology, so I minored in Sociology.”

 

Seymour is also enjoying having the opportunity to teach a multitude of

courses here because she likes to experiment in the classroom. “With all of those

different courses to teach, especially for a creative person, it is a fun experience

because I can change context and be done with it and start anew the next

semester or even the next day,” Seymour said. She is not afraid to change up the

content of her class depending on what her students got out of the readings or

assignments.

 

One thing that Seymour really emphasizes in her classes is getting students

to see that form can constrain them enough to provide adequate realizations that

they may not have had otherwise. She emphasizes form within her courses as a

way to help students find their own voice in writing and literature.

 

Aside from her life at MC, Seymour is enjoying her new life in Maryville, TN.

Although Seymour is originally from Central Pennsylvania and has always lived

in the mountains, though she feels that the mountains are different everywhere

that you go. “Here you can see the mountains form a distance and see the

sunset and the blue ridge that everyone talks about,” Seymour said. She also

appreciates the welcoming nature of everyone here, and while she sometimes

feels like an outsider, she is already beginning to feel at home: “The culture

shock isn’t too bad. Everyone is still human. Everyone is nice and normal.”