Oswego professor takes teaching to a new level
[su_pullquote align=”right”]“I have a friend who says, ‘Linda can’t know anything without teaching it to somebody else.’” [/su_pullquote]
For the last 20 years, Linda Loomis has instilled her knowledge of creative writing, journalism, and English into students’ minds at SUNY Oswego. Loomis was supposed to retire in 2008, yet her effort, determination, and hard work has not only continued to contribute to students overall knowledge in writing, but the quality of SUNY Oswego’s teaching as a whole.
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Corey Sheen can remember the first time he was in one of Loomis’s classes. He is a journalism major and is required to fulfill a writing agreement, so he chose to take her creative writing course. “By being such a great reader and writer, Loomis can identify the strong and weak points within any writer; she’s very humble about it,” Sheen says.
After taking her introduction to the creative writing course, he instantly decided to take the advanced class with her. He is grateful for her constructive criticism because it has shaped his writing not only as a student, but also for his writing career in the future. Sheen says her personality shines through in each class she teaches, and she is always involved with students on and off campus. He comments on her spirited and youthful attitude, despite nearing the age of 70. “Linda Loomis has been a teacher I never disliked nor questioned what she was doing,” he said.
Amy Lipsky has taken both creative writing and English classes with Loomis and feels that she came out of her classes a better writer than before. The material she gives her students and the way she breaks down her lessons makes sense to Lipsky, and she applies that to her own method of writing. She enjoys how Loomis makes each class exciting and gets students involved in learning. She says on the contrary of regular lecturing, Loomis “cracks jokes and makes the class laugh, and you don’t get that too often in a college classroom.”
[su_pullquote]”I think she is the only teacher that can keep me awake at 9 a.m.”[/su_pullquote]
Lipsky genuinely appreciates her zest for teaching, because it helps maintain her attention and absorb the information she is given a relaxing setting. “She is fun. She loves what she’s teaching. I love professors who are passionate about what they are teaching,” she said.
Danielle Syers says Loomis has an interesting way of teaching. She constructively critiques everything, which improved the overall quality of Syers’s writing her sophomore year. “She has made me think about what I was writing and willing to tell me what I was doing wrong and right.”
When grading work, Loomis doesn’t look at the papers piled on her desk as just things to be graded; she thoroughly reads each assignment and respects what the students are trying to get across. “I am very grateful to the school itself, to the people that have been very affirming and helpful. Most of all, I am grateful, for all of the students,” says Loomis.
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When leaving journalism in 2008, she officially retired in her own sense. Since then she is working full time in one capacity or another as an adjunct professor. She says at some point she will have to leave SUNY Oswego, but it is a thrill to be still teaching. “I feel very privileged to be here. It really is a blessing to be involved. I love this place,” she said. It is no secret that her unique teaching skills and dedication to English and journalism are the essence of a truly remarkable professor.