Student of the Month

Colin Watkins has been selected as the January Student of the Month. Watkins is a junior at Cameron and is studying English with a Business Management minor. Watkins says he is interested in writing and teaching but would also like to try life in the world of business. In addition to these areas of ability, Watkins will upon graduation from Cameron also be qualified to coach athletics in secondary schools. He has received a few academic scholarships and awards but considers his membership in Sigma Tau Delta as most important.

Watkins is twenty-seven and married to Amy Watkins. They have three children ages seven, eight, and twelve. Watkins currently works in the casino surveillance business, as he has for four years. He loves sports and boasts over twenty tattoos. Watkins attributes much of his success at Cameron to Dr. Thomlinson, who has been an inspiration to him.

Professor's Spotlight - Teri McGrath

I am honored to be in the spotlight for this issue of The Rosebud-the first of 2008.  Many of my friends and family will say that I do love the spotlight, and they are correct.  But writing for this Sigma Tau Delta publication reminds me of a time when I did all that I could to avoid it. 

As some of you may know, I earned my B.A. from Cameron, and for the first few semesters of classes I felt very shy and very much out of place.  I rarely spoke up in class, though I had a lot to say and a lot of questions, because I wasn't aware of what value there was in any of my ideas.  Of course, to a great degree I have the wonderful English Department faculty to thank for showing me the value of ideas-even bad ones-and helping to bring me out of my shell during that time, but it was my membership in Sigma Tau Delta that really began to make me feel like part of a community of scholars. 

My membership in STD provided me with numerous opportunities to discuss literature, art, and criticism with brilliant and interesting people.  I attended poetry readings and grew as a writer and a reader.  Over coffee or lunch and during STD functions, my fellow English majors and I engaged in conversations that gave me insight into the works we were reading in class that I simply would not have had if it weren't for these interactions.  I also found myself involved in some pretty heated list-serve debates about which poet would be the better boxer or what drink would be the most appropriate to serve to T.S. Eliot at a party-and these exchanges were also useful, in their own way. The sense of community that Sigma Tau Delta helps to create among English majors gave me a sense of belonging that enabled me to participate with much more confidence in class activities, and the bonds I formed with faculty members and with my fellow students enriched my education enormously.  I still benefit from those relationships today.

Now that I've returned to Cameron to teach, I find that, once again, Sigma Tau Delta is playing a role in making me feel at home.  I've enjoyed attending poetry readings and listening to creative writing majors read their work.  I've walked into the faculty lounge to discover that a feast has been prepared for faculty members by members of Sigma Tau Delta (I really cannot express the joy I have felt on these occasions). I attended a gathering that benefitted the Lawton Food Bank, during which faculty and English majors interacted, ate delicious food and listened to a moving dramatic reading of a classic Christmas tale. All of these activities and all of the people involved, the faculty and the students, contribute to the sense of community that Sigma Tau Delta helps to create.  It is a community of brilliant, funny, and compassionate people. I am very proud to be a part of it, and I look forward to participating in more activities that will reach out to those students who are like I was-there are several in every class-and show them that they are a part of it, too. 

And so I am using my time in the spotlight to congratulate Jessica Frazier and the other members of Sigma Tau Delta for the excellent work they have been doing and to thank them for welcoming me home.

Poet's Corner

Poet's Corner