User:Ctaylor64/Margaret Rozga

{{multiple issues|COI=April 2011|external links=March 2011|orphan=March 2011|unreferencedBLP=March 2011|wikify=March 2011}}

Professional Life

Teaching

Rozga began teaching at the University of Wisconsin-Waukesha in the Fall of 1982 as an ad hoc instructor. She was hired in the Fall of 1983 as an assistant professor of English. According to one of her fellow Colleges professors Susan Brodie, who visited Rozga's classes, she was a natural at leading class discussion in a "calm and probing manner," which was "always exciting." Another UW Colleges professor Tim Thering, who co-taught classes with Rozga, remembered her as a "strong believer in active learning." In his nomination letter of her for a UW Colleges 2010 Kaplan award, he writes, "She has a fearless faith that students can do more than they think they can." Thering and Rozga worked to create two different interdisciplinary courses, African American Literature and History in the Twentieth Century and Contemporary Literature and History. Another class that Rozga created with a historian Professor Jonathan Kasparek linked multicultural literature and Indians in American history. Rozga also taught a Native American Literature course with retired Philosophy Professor Jim Cheney. One other unique contribution to interdisciplinary course creation was Drawing and Writing Poetry in Response to Nature, which was taught at the UW-Waukesha Field Station.

Working with Students

Rozga has worked closely with students in many different capacities. She was the Faculty Advisor to the Literary Club and Windy Hill Review beginning in 1995 and also served as an advisor to UW- Waukesha Students for Peace, 2004-2010. In addition, Rozga has mentored many students for the annual Faculty Student Research Symposium on campus.

UW-Waukesha Campus

Around 1999, Rozga took up the important role of being English Department Representative (the title was later switched to Associate Chair), which she continued through 2009. While her duties in this role were manifold, UW-Waukesha English Department members fondly remember her supportive guidance to her colleagues both in meetings and informal conversation. English Professor Ellyn Lem said of Rozga, "I will never forget her flexibility and understanding in arranging class schedules each semester. She made balancing a busy home and professional life possible not only for me but so many others." Rozga was also very active in campus service. She was the Chair of the Campus Appointments Committee, the Chair of the Evaluation Committee and lead a Dean Search Committee that brought Brad Stewart to campus in 1999.

UW Colleges English Department

Rozga's significant contribution to the UW Colleges English Department has been her membership on the Executive Committee. Former Chair Ken Grant remarks, "Peggy . . . was instrumental in all aspects of her department's policy-making. . . ; her positions were articulate and intelligently argued." He further comments that Rozga served as role model and mentor for younger faculty. Professor Cassie Phillips, who was mentored by Rozga, fondly remembers, "Peggy's different hats. . . she could respond to my questions and give me advice while wearing her Executive Committee hat, her Associate Chair hat, her professor hat, her activist hat, her woman hat, her mother hat, and, most importantly, her friend hat. She was all those things and more."

Scholarship

Rozga has been involved in several professional organizations over her academic career. She has been active with the Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature for many years, serving as President Elect in 2009, President in 2010, and immediate Past President this year. In addition to SSML, Rozga has been active in the Midwestern Modern Language Association, serving as Chair or Secretary for a number of years. She has also given presentations at a number of this section's programs at the yearly conferences held throughout the Midwest.

Creative Writing

Rozga has long been an active member of the Wisconsin poetry scene. Her poetry has appeared in such literary magazines as Apple Valley Review, Blue Mesa Review, Main Street Rag, Out of Line, Passager, and the Wisconsin Magazine of History. In addition, she has been a resident at the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology and at the Ragdale Foundation. Much of her work explores natural imagery and symbolism, as seen in “Wealth of the World.” She also displays a fondness for ekphrastic poetry, occasionally teaming up with local textile artists to create art shows that combine poetry with visual arts. One of her exhibits was called "Threaded Mataphors: Text and Textile" in 2002. More recently, she has written about her own experiences as an activist during the open housing protests that took place in Milwaukee in 1968. Her crowning literary achievements thus far are her play March on Milwaukee: A Memoir of the Open Housing Protests (2007) and a collection of poetry about the protests entitled 200 Nights and One Day (2009). 200 Nights and One Day was named “outstanding achievement in poetry for 2009” by the Wisconsin Library Association and won a bronze medal in poetry at the Independent Publishers Book Awards. Mark Lococo, director of the play that was performed on the UW-Waukesha campus, indicated that the project engaged students in "learning history, poetry, performance, and community." He also described it as a model of "how documentary drama and the related arts can effectively center social justice in education." Rozga's latest project, a memoir in poems about her son's deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan as an Army reservist entitled, Though I Haven't Been to Baghdad, will be published by Benu Press.