Contrary to popular belief, professors—English professors in particular—partake in numerous activities outside of their normal teaching hours. Derek Ross, Susan Youngblood and Sunny Stalter-Pace were happy to share what they do in their free time.
Ross is the Hagris Professor of Writing Studies. His field of study is technical and professional communication.
"My research interests are document design, ethics and radical and environmental rhetorics," Ross said.
A few activities Ross enjoys that help him unwind after a day of teaching are art, music, video games and cooking.
"I spend my weekends reading, working outside, drawing and occasionally binge watching shows—sci-fi, crime and horror, preferably," Ross said.
Youngblood is the Associate Professor of Technical and Professional Communication. She earned her PhD in technical communication and rhetoric at Texas Tech University.
Her go-to activity that helps her unwind is completing logic puzzles. She enjoys a range of puzzles but usually starts with Kakuro puzzles. When Youngblood isn't working, she loves spending time with her family.
"I also love to play acoustic guitar and work on expanding the repertoire of what I play and sing," Youngblood said.
Stalter-Pace enjoys going to farmers markets when she isn't working.
Ross, Youngblood and Stalter-Pace each have hobbies that connect to their academic interests.
"I read digital advance copies of books before they're released," said Stalter-Pace.
She explained that educators can sign up to read books before they're released through NetGallery in exchange for reviews.
"I teach design and write about design. My art definitely intersects. I draw, carve and create block prints in my workshop," Ross said.
He designs and distributes his own zines, stickers, art cards and other things.
"I dabble in genealogy, a hobby that requires me to apply my technical communication background and research skills. I have over 400 pages of notes on my family history, much of it on my mother's side," Youngblood said.
In her classes, she often talks about semantic markup and the practice of marking in documents.
"I use semantic markup in these long genealogical documents to help me manage the information and easily find what I need," Youngblood said.
Ross and and Youngblood are involved in non-academic projects that many students find exciting.
"I'm almost always working on one art project or another. I've got running story lines about Sam and their magic bathtub, pirates and Rupert the Goldfish," Ross said.
He has prints that he's working on that have been pulled from nature. Recently, Ross has been collecting flowers and leaves to do nature monoprints.
"I also play mandolin, bass and guitar and enjoy playing music with friends," Ross added.
Youngblood is an active member of the local Jewish community.
"I am one of a number of lay service leaders and and I'm one of the members that helps provide music for the coming High Holidays, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur," Youngblood said.
She's currently practicing 30 musical pieces for Rosh Hashanah, adapting piano and vocal scores into lead sheets for Yom Kippur. She works on guitar chords for songs when she has access to piano arrangements.
"I'm also working on holiday cue sheets for our visiting rabbi," Youngblood said.
These English faculty members are not only dedicated educators, they are also creative individuals who channel their inner talents into a variety of endeavors beyond the classroom.
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