Jeff Burke ('80) writes: Once a struggling middle school student, I hit my stride as a first-year student at Hastings College. I have vivid memories of joining my English professors for a trip to Red Cloud, Nebraska to celebrate Willa Cather Day. I decided to major in Secondary English Education. I recall having invigorating discussions about Cather and Tolstoy novels in class. One highlight I still look back on is the day Professor Sara Jane Gardner returned our research papers and I discovered much to my excitement that I had earned an “A.” I also have fond memories of taking classes with Darrel Lloyd, Dwight Marsh and Robert Harwick.  I served as the public address announcer for all of the Bronco home football games during my time at Hastings College. I loved sitting in the press box and calling the games. I only missed one home football game in four years! Although I was a bit scrawny in high school, I was co-captain of our intramural flag football team at Hastings College. Dur...

Brett Williams (’98) writes: My name is Brett Williams and my title is Director, Applications and Customer Relationships at the University of Wyoming, Division of Information Technology. I direct and manage multiple teams within my department. Currently that department has 34 full time employees. I manage our student application system team, which is the system of record for the University of Wyoming. This team does all the support, maintenance, and modifications to meet our customer needs for all systems that integrate with the tool. This system is how our students access data for registration, grades, degree evaluation, and transcripts. I also supervise our Learning Management System (LMS) team, which is currently Instructure Canvas. We support all the functions of the tool, working with our faculty support group, Ellbogen Center for Teaching and Learning, where our course designers reside. We work more on the backend of making sure the tool is working properly. I also manage our dep...

Krista (Schroeder) Cox ('86) writes: Krista Cox ('86) I have always loved learning, so I had a plan, from day one at Hastings College. I was going to be a high school English and/or Speech teacher. Being a teacher meant I never had to leave school. I followed through on the plan and was a high school English teacher for 32 years in Alma, Nebraska. I can honestly say that I loved my job. Every day was different and the same. A school day’s schedule unfolds in a similar manner each day, but the experiences packed into that schedule are like attending a church potluck—you never know what you will get but each dish offers the hope of being the best yet. I was still in love with teaching the first year I was eligible for retirement, but the job I have now with Wesleyan became available and I decided to apply. For the first time in 32 years, I found myself polishing my interviewing skills and eventually accepting the position. It’s the perfect second career job for a retired teache...

There is nothing quite as awe inspiring as looking out at the ocean from atop the cliffs. Waves crash on the rocks below. The wind catches the mist down below and brings it sailing upward to dust you as you walk along the narrow path. With every step the view changes. It’s impossible to catch it all, though you feel an obligation to try so you can bring this beauty back home with you to share. Only about a twenty minute bus ride from where the Irish Fellows stay each year, this the Cliffs of Moher stretch up from the ocean like something from a fairy tale. The cliffs reach anywhere from almost 400 feet to 700 feet up over the ocean and run for nine miles total, creating spectacular views along the coast. We are not the first to bask in the beauty of these cliffs, nor will we be the last. They have made appearances in many different pieces of pop culture, including the Princess Bride where they appear as the cliffs of insanity. Fans of Harry Potter, like myself, will recognize them from...

They say time flies when you’re having fun, but that doesn’t even begin to describe how quickly the Irish Fellows trip has been passing by. We’ve been here for ten days now, though it feels like we just got here yesterday. Time has certainly gotten away from me and there is a lot to share. Our first few days we spent our time getting to know Lahinch, the seaside town where we’re staying. Dr. Rob Babcock, the man we have to thank for putting this all together for us, stayed with us the first few days to help us get our bearings. He took us to many of his favorite local places including Kenny’s and The Atlantic Hotel where we said our goodbyes. We also started to branch out into some of the surrounding towns including Ennistymon and Ennis. Much of my work will be taking place in Ennistymon with Salmon Poetry.  The other girls’ studies have already started taking them all around the country as they look at different aspects for their projects. We’ve still managed to find time to explo...

Hello from Ireland! Well, hello from Lahinch, specifically. For those of you that don’t know, that’s on the west coast, south of Galway. It’s a beautiful coastal town that I will be calling home for the next month. Well known for it’s surfing and golf course, Lahinch hosts many tourists every year. My name is Emily Nevins, I’m a English and Marketing student as Hastings College, and I am one of the lucky students who was chosen to be a part of the Irish Fellows program at Hastings College. This means that, not only am I in Ireland right now, but I will have the opportunity to complete a research project while I’m here. I’m sort of cheating, because I’m actually going to do two, a publishing internship and a writing project. And these blogs too, of course. This week marks the beginning of those projects. Two days ago, four other students and I made the sixteen hour long journey from Hastings to Lahinch, Ireland along with Dr. Babcock, our professor. Our trip is one of many that have bee...

Alum Spotlight: Holly Auten I graduated from HC in 1998 with a major in English and minor in Religion. I had the good fortune of taking classes from all of the department’s professors: D. Lloyd, R. Lloyd, Marsh, Marvel, Fairbanks, and Malloy. Back when it was called Interim Term, I traveled to Ireland with Rich Lloyd and Rob Babcock to study the Easter 1916 uprising. My Langvardt Scholar presentation was about the making of the atomic bomb; I was inspired by my visit to the Trinity Site in New Mexico on the 50th anniversary. Albuquerque is my hometown. The books I’m holding are almost 30 years old.  They’re from Darrel Lloyd’s 19th century  British poetry class, which was my first  college-level literature course. I have a Master’s in English from Kansas State University. My career began in medical textbook publishing and evolved into software project management. Burnt out at age 40, I redirected my career by earning a Technical Writing Certification from Cal State East B...