By Julia Watt, LSWA Creative Mentor

“They did not get rid of me for almost 8 years,” remarks Jackie Kauza on her time in Lloyd Scholars for Writing and the Arts (LSWA). From being a first-year LSWA student in 2007 to working for LSWA professionally as an Office Assistant from 2009-2015, Jackie felt that this learning community was a great fit for both her personal interests and career ambitions — a thread that has continued into her present work as an Assistant Professor and Interim Director of the Writing Program in the English Department at Indiana University-East (IU).

Like many Lloyd Scholars, Jackie joined this living-learning community because it would give her the opportunity to stay involved in her creative passions. “That was really the impetus for it,” Jackie said. “I wouldn’t need to go digging for creative outlets in the vastness of campus. My hobbies would be right at my fingertips.” 

During her first year in the program, Jackie joined the Arts and Literary Journal editorial board. She stayed on as a Student Assistant the following year and was one of two fiction editors for the 2008 edition of the journal. She refers to her work with the journal as formative, explaining that, “As a student in the editorial board, you were able to gesture to something that you’ve helped create.” 

After completing her undergraduate degree in English and Anthropological Archaeology at U-M, Jackie began working for LSWA professionally as a copy editor for the journal and an office assistant, while simultaneously earning her Master’s in Written Communication at Eastern Michigan University. She describes these experiences as integral in advancing her higher education career because of how they helped her develop the organizational and creative skills necessary to be successful in new academic environments. Jackie specifically remembers how working in the LSWA office “gave me a sort of ‘baby’s first step’ behind the curtain of university function,” which she deemed essential in getting her to where she is now – fulfilling her passion for teaching at IU-East.

Jackie eventually left LSWA to earn her PhD in Rhetoric, Composition, and Literacy at The Ohio State University, although she still reminisces often about the time she spent in this learning community. She continues to balance both her personal and professional engagement with creativity by spending time outside of her writing-focused career sketching and writing fiction as a low-stakes creative outlet that brings more joy into her day-to-day life.

Below is an excerpt from a piece Jackie wrote that was published in one of our Arts & Lit Journals -- click the image to read the rest of it!