January Q&A: Teaching opportunities, community and helping students
By Desiré Correa, Grace Mangano and Grant Mellerson
Muskingum University is a private liberal arts institution in New Concord, Ohio, a small village with a lot of heart. Meet some of the people who make up the campus’ students, faculty and staff in our monthly Q&As.
Kekoa Kaluhiokalani is an assistant professor and current chair of the English department at Muskingum University. He grew up in a family of teachers, his mother an elementary school teacher and his father a university professor, which inspired him to pursue a teaching career. Through his education and early career, he transitioned between small and big institutions and came to realize that he preferred smaller schools: when he was hired by Muskingum in 2006, he was drawn to the small faculty-to-student ratio on campus and the flexibility in teaching the university offers. Some of the classes Kaluhiokalani teaches at Muskingum include Topics in Literature, Film and Culture, World Literature, and Monsters and Monstrosity. At Muskingum, he has been able to create meaningful connections with students and faculty through innovative on-campus courses and leading interdisciplinary study abroad programs in remote locations, including Hawaii, London, Florence, Italy, and Athens, Greece.
Professor Kaluhiokalani in his office in Cambridge Hall / Photo by Desiré Correa
Q: What does Muskingum mean to you?
A: I’ve had the ability to be so flexible and to design interesting new courses or to not feel like I was confined … so I made a class on monsters, I made a class on zombies, I made a class on dystopias, I made a class on love, and I was given that flexibility, so that's what I, amongst the things that I really appreciate about here, is that I have this flexibility. [And] I was given the latitude and the flexibility to create overseas programs where I work, again cross-disciplinary with other professors in history, religion, philosophy, and media studies, and we put together experiences, you know, high impact experiences to take students to London, to Paris, to Rome, to Florence, to Athens, to Istanbul, to Ireland, to Hawaii, and to create a learning environment [where] they are in the environment and I would not have that opportunity at a much larger institution.
Jamie Secrest graduated from Muskingum in 2020 with a degree in business management and health administration. Two years after graduating, she was hired by the university as a financial aid counselor, a job that allows her to help students in need of financial support.
Jamie Secrest in her office / Photo by Desiré Correa
Q: What does Muskingum mean to you?
A: It really means being able to help my students, and help them navigate through their financial struggles and see what I can do to help them further their career.
Q: When you were a student [at Muskingum], what did the experience mean to you?
A: At first, I was like, oh my gosh, this is going to be like every other, you know, college out there, but it really wasn’t. I made a lot of good friends here and I really felt connected to my friends, students and professors.
Angie Lyric is an administrative assistant to the science division. She grew up just south of Marietta and attended Otterbein University. Lyric has worked at Muskingum for four years. She lives on her husband’s family farm and has four children, three of which attend John Glenn High School.
Angie Lyric / Photo by Desiré Correa
Q: What does Muskingum mean to you?
A: To me Muskingum is home. I’ve always loved this community, it’s very similar to where I grew up; a little bit rural, but still within access of some cities, so yeah, and the people are great.
