By Taylor Alexander
Student Reporter
Dr. Jennifer Page, English professor at Northwestern Oklahoma State University, is no stranger to the hardships her students are going through.
Throughout her years of teaching she has been able to serve her students not only as a professor, but a mentor.
More than one student has gone to her for advice and guidance outside of the realm of academics.
Teaching wasn’t always her life goal. At 8 years old, she wanted to be a neurosurgeon. It only grew from there to an obstetrician and a meteorologist. It was in high school when she grounded herself.
“I was really neurotic [in high school],” she said. “I was. I was a first-generation college student and I didn’t have some kind of mythical college fund waiting for me. and I found out about that when I was a sophomore and I realized that the only way I was going to get a college degree funded and to hopefully have a better quality of life was to just work as hard as I could in academics and extracurriculars, at networking to make those possibilities happen.
If there was a club at my high school, I was in it and probably running it. I took every AP class that I could which at that time it was only two, but it was still a lot.”
Despite the normally overwhelming school workload, Page continued to work hard to achieve her goals.
“I got a full ride to a small college pretty close to home,” she said. “I continued to build my network and learning and meeting new people. I think I’ve chilled out a little since being a really high-strung teen, but I still really enjoy being active and having my hands in a lot of cookie jars.” she said.
Page is a professor with almost 10 years of experience. She served as an adjunct and a graduate assistant at the University of Louisiana in Lafayette for five years. In 2013, she came to Northwestern Oklahoma State University. Fellow English professor Dr. Roxie James was at UL when Page was a graduate assistant.
“Dr. Page was the assistant to the graduate coordinator and whenever I had a question I would run to her office and be like ‘I need help!’ and so she was always good about that,” James said.
Page said she enjoyed being the graduate assistant, but now she gets to teach professionally and with more freedom.
“I’ve gotten a lot of chances to design some really cool courses and to try new things,” Page said. “That’s something I’ve really enjoyed about teaching at Northwestern, is that I get to play in a bigger sandbox.”
The fall of 2017 semester, Page taught Composition I: Monsters, in which students analyzed the creation of monsters in literature and social media.
The spring of 2018 semester’s Composition II course was on subcultures, where students were asked to self-analyze their own subcultures and what all is involved with their subculture. In a previous year, Page led the course Shakespeare and Harry Potter.
She said she encourages her students to approach learning as learning from themselves while applying what they are being taught.
Also, by incorporating material from pop culture into the course material, Page said she is hoping to make her classes more relatable and enjoyable for her students.
As a result of personal experience along with her teaching education, Page said in her classroom she encourages a community of learning.
“I like to think about a classroom as a community of learners and a community of practice,” she said. “We’re all becoming better critical thinkers and I include myself in that, as well. We’re all becoming more analytical and learning from each other. I think it’s really hard to remove yourself and your experiences from that kind of conversation. When it comes to composition, you can learn to write about anything, so why not make it something you’re passionate about or something that you know a lot about. It makes it more enjoyable and if the process is more enjoyable then we’re going to become better. Just like I like new challenges and I like new things,” she said.
“I like to learn about these things from my students. It’s a good and fun exchange.”
Page said she tries to encourage alternative perspectives or explorative ideas for her Alva students.
“I try to. I think that the whole point of college is learning more about a subject area and general education,” she said. “But it’s also about learning more about yourself, figuring out what makes you tick and then following those pursuits.”
Along with the usual courses she teaches such as Composition I and II, Early British Literature Survey, Shakespeare, Page is the chair of the Honors Committee, a faculty sponsor of Sigma Tau Delta, and co-founder of the Teacher’s Closet. The Teacher’s Closet is a program that helps provide professional clothes to education students going into their profession.
Page has been a presenter at a number of conferences and other events like Curiosity Fest where she spoke about memes.
She has spoken in a prison and says she would go again if the opportunity arose. She is also a part of the Let’s Talk About It Oklahoma, a program where authors come and speak on campus about their books.
One individual Page attributes part of her teaching style to is Elizabeth Bobo, one of her college professors.
She described Bobo as “a whirling dervish,” constantly changing the way she was teaching in an effort to stimulate her students and help them learn as effectively as she could.
Jackson Gardner is a junior and took Page’s Composition II class on subcultures. “[Her teaching style] was interesting.” He said. “She kind of struck me as one of the few legitimately concerned, really competent professors. I remember the first times I sat down and talked with her, she was the first professor I had a conversation with and thought ‘wow, I would like to take a class with her.’ She seemed really knowledgeable and on the same wavelength. She was really honest, and she was demanding with her expectations.” Gardner said.
Tiffany Willson is a junior and, in the Honors program, that Page is chair of.
“She was straightforward and encouraging. I have always found her to be relatable. She even calls us her ducks in the Honors program.” said junior Tiffany Willson. “She let us have an ice cream party in celebration of finals last semester. She brought us all our favorite flavors and lots of toppings.”
Outside of the classroom, Page enjoys the simple things in life: music, movies, and spending time with her husband. Next May will be their 12th anniversary for Page and her husband, Chris Dickson.
“I am a cautionary tale,” she said. “We were high school sweethearts. We met a month before he graduated, and I was a freshman. One of my friends…introduced [us]…and then she just kind of faded into the background and there were cartoon hearts everywhere.”
The couple has gone to events such as Video Games Live (a concert series that travels the country),
a Penny Arcade exposition in Vancouver, PAC South, and concerts with artists like the Foo Fighters and Kesha.
Now what’s her advice for students?
“Time management is key,” she said. “I know everyone says that and it’s obnoxious, but it really is true, though.”