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26 SUMMER 2012 | ST. LAWRENCE UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE
INNOVATOR IN WRITING PEDAGOGY
Elizabeth Inness-Brown ’76
says her 24-
year career as a professor of English and
director of Saint Michael’s College’s Writing
Center has been “a wonderful integration
of teaching, research, learning, service and
practical application.
“By teaching someone to write, I prepare him
or her to succeed in every area of life,” she
says. “But even better is to empower others
to teach writing and spread the wealth even
further.”
Inness-Brown’s work with the writing center
includes training 36 coaches who accommo-
date more than 1,200 visits annually.
“Their training includes ‘Teaching Writing,’ a
four-credit course I designed,” she says. “I
strive to use only student-centered, active
learning. As students study the theory and
pedagogy of writing, they experience writing
as a process, experience teaching writing one
to one, and experience the uses of writing
across the curriculum.”
A published novelist and short-story writer,
Inness-Brown has collaborated with students
to create two books, including
The Little Book
on Teaching Writing to First-Year Students
.
Her commitment to her work earned her a
national Professor of the Year nomination in
2005.
After spending 32 years teaching others how
to teach writing, she credits St. Lawrence
English professor Joe David Bellamy as the
person who told her she had the talent to pur-
sue writing after college. “He was a profes-
sor, an author and a mentor, and seeing how
those could be woven together into a career, I
knew that was the life for me,” she says.
‘REPHOTOGRAPHER’ FOR
THE PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE
Mark Klett ’74
says his
interest in repeat photogra-
phy and historical images
has focused on the colli-
sion points of land, culture
and time. He says St.
Lawrence geologist Mark
Erickson inspired him to pursue research and
a career that combined art and science.
“The idea of repeating an earlier photograph
was pioneered by geologists who were look-
ing for ways to measure physical changes
in landscapes,” he explains. “My work has
extended the methods and ideas around this
work and has affected how others have also
used this concept for many purposes. Natural
and social scientists, artists, historians and
amateur photographers have all used the
concept of repeat photography – or what we
coined ‘rephotography.’”
His work earned him one of Arizona State
University’s most prestigious honors when
he was appointed a Regents’ Professor in
2001. Personifying the liberal arts, he’s a
geology major who teaches in an art program.
Students researching with Klett, who has
received fellowships from the Guggenheim
Foundation and the National Endowment for
the Arts, work on projects encompassing
multiple disciplines. For example, his Phoe-
nix Transect is a visual survey of Phoenix
involving photography and natural and social
sciences. Students in the course create an
evolving portrait of the Phoenix metro area.
photo courtesy of Andy Duback,
Saint Michael's College