老司机传媒

Welcome to the 老司机传媒 Department of English, a realm where Shakespeare and Dickens may hold hands and skip into the sunset. Nestled cozily inside Nethery Hall, the English department is a place where the original portrait of Dorian Gray hangs, delicious Wonderlandian “Eat Me” cakes are served during tea time and, if instigated properly, the resident Hamlet will bust out a soliloquy or two.

But there’s so much more to the department than these completely factual features! According to L. Monique Pittman, professor of English and director of Honors, the English department nurtures warm student-faculty relationships, spirituality and academic excellence. And the intimacy of the program, she says, doesn’t compromise the quality or rigor of learning. 

“It is distinctly Adventist education that has, at the same time, had academic ambition that has pushed for its faculty to engage in research beyond the campus,” Pittman says. 

The program also utilizes active professor-researchers to help students both master content in the classroom and contribute their own research projects to the field. 

“Because we are small,” she says, “that network that we developed through our research can be brought back to campus, can help our students flourish and grow, not just spiritually and socially, but also professionally through our own academic network.”

Touching on these aspects of the English department, Maddi Vath (junior, English) speaks of the professors’ encouragement throughout her learning journey, saying, “They’re such a safe space for me whenever I feel despondent or discouraged.” In the same vein, Yoel Kim (senior, physics and math), who is minoring in English, distinguishes our English department from stereotypes of academia as a program that welcomes learning and discourse. Instead of the “cruel ‘academic’ coldness that often characterizes common depictions of academia,” the English program at Andrews is a warm environment, where Yoel says he has “never felt disparaged—not in depth nor the content of my thoughts.”

Professor Scott Moncrieff, who has been a pillar of the English department since 1988, embodies this warm welcome for language and literature. As someone who teaches College Writing I, English Literature 1800-1914 and Creative Writing: Poetry, he interacts with a diversity of majors, which frames the way he thinks about teaching and writing. 

“I am a big believer in the value of writing to every human being, whether they be an English major or not,” he says. 

Moncrieff began college studying journalism but had also considered other majors. While working as a dean at Campion Academy, he befriended two English teachers who introduced him to new books. Once he returned to college, Moncrieff made the change to an English major and has been engrossed in the discipline ever since.

Pittman, whose academic journey began with a profound love for reading—often as a means to avoid chores—recalls a transformative moment in her freshman year at Andrews when she took a Women’s Literature course from Meredith Jones Gray, a professor emerita of the English department.

“That was the first moment I realized I could turn my love of books and talking about them into a profession,” Pittman says. 

Similarly, Maddi mentions how the theoretical frameworks taught in the program contribute to the development of critical thinking, as the literature classes at Andrews provide exposure to “texts that aren’t always the norm for Adventism.” Curricula built around her favorite frameworks include feminist theory, queer theory and postcolonialism. Yoel says these theories are vital points of discussion that are unnecessarily politicized in our culture. He describes the English department as a setting that facilitates this discourse as “resistance against institutions of power” and says “its loss would be lamentable.”

Pittman finds these classroom discussions the most rewarding aspect of her profession. “I am learning about my students’ personal concerns and world orientations while getting my own corrected, adjusted and expanded,” she says. She references Kwame Anthony Appiah, a writer and professor of philosophy and law at New York University, who regards stories as a way to help align our world orientation with others’. Pittman translates this resonating experience to her classroom discussion with students. 

One thread that connected all of the English department interviews is a deep, shared love of learning. Those who study English do not view it as a “means to an end” but an intentional engagement with literature and the themes that it elucidates on the human condition. When discussing the significance of the Andrews English program, Moncrieff notes how writing has historically served as a record of what it means to be a human being.

“In my perspective,” he says, “writing is a superpower.”