University of Minnesota
center for writing
writing.umn.edu


Center for Writing alumni—Sara Lindey

read another alum's response

11 Questions for Center for Writing Alums

  • Sara LindeyYour name:  Sara Lindey (was Berrey)
  • Your email:  sara.lindey@stvincent.edu
  • When did you work with us and what was your role? 
    • Teaching Assistant, Center for Writing: Teaching with Writing, University of Minnesota, developed programming to help faculty and teaching assistants teach with writing, redesigned, as well as created and vetted content for, writing.umn.edu, Fall 2007–Spring 2008
    • Administrative Fellow, Center for Writing, University of Minnesota, redesigned, as well as created and vetted content for, writing.umn.edu, Summer 2003–Spring 2004
    • Administrative Fellow, Center for Interdisciplinary Studies in Writing, University of Minnesota, created and vetted content for center’s website, prepared materials for workshops, produced the annual reports, Spring 2001–Summer 2003
  • What education and/or occupation(s) have you pursued since working with us?
    I am currently an Assistant Professor of English at St. Vincent College, a Catholic, liberal arts college.  I teach widely in American literature with advanced courses in areas such as Nineteenth-Century American Women Writers and the American Renaissance and specialized introductory-level courses, such as Children’s Literature to 1900.  I also teach freshman composition occasionally.

Reflections on your center experience:

  • Did your work with us influence your educational or occupational choices? If so, how? My work for CISW and the Center for Writing led me to understand the importance of teaching well.  I knew I wanted to be an English professor, but to discover that the most rewarding part of my career would be teaching, not researching and writing essays, was a valuable contribution my working with writing instruction solidified.
    Also, my work on the Teaching with Writing website prepared me to lead a project developing an online curriculum resource for the Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children’s Media. (http://www.fredrogerscenter.org/resources/toolkit/)
  • What are the most significant abilities, values, or skills that you developed in your work with us? At CISW and the Center for Writing I gained a greater understanding about how writing instruction and diverse writing activities can enable discovery and analysis, foster curiosity and insight, and solidify complex concepts.  Writing is rewarding.  I appreciate the flexibility of writing assignments to accomplish a wide variety of learning objectives.  And, I believe in the power of writing to learn, teach, inspire, and change minds, attitudes, and behaviors.  In my teaching and in faculty workshops at my current institution, I rehearse the values I came to adopt working at the Center for Writing. 
  • Provide a link to your personal or professional website (if you’d like to). http://www.stvincent.edu/academics/english/faculty/dr.-sara-lindey