Emily Klim ’08

Senior Emily Klim, a double major in comparative literature and history with minors in French, Russian, and Eastern European studies, has received a Fulbright teaching fellowship. She is the fourth Oberlin student the Fulbright Program has recognized this year.

Klim was selected to teach secondary social studies in Philadelphia in the fall for the Teach For America program. However, she has deferred the assignment for a year to accept the Fulbright. She will teach at the State University in Kolomna, a small city near Moscow that was founded in 1177.

“I fell in love with Russia through Pushkin and Tolstoy when I was 16,” she says. “While in the country, I want to get a grasp how modern Russians view themselves and learn how they remember their history by researching the role that Russian orthodoxy plays in their lives.“

“I would also like to learn their view of America and use the experience to reflect on how I relate to my own culture and history. The fellowship will help me not only probe my own American identity and history, but hopefully make me a better teacher when I go to Philadelphia.”

Klim’s sojourn in Russia will not be her first teaching experience. “Emily loves teaching and is already extremely good at it,” says Tom Newlin, associate professor and chair of the Russian Department. “She and two other student teachers led our intensive winter term Russian course this past January, and she did a great job.

“She has all the qualities—intelligence, clarity, patience, poise, quiet toughness, and spark—that make for a great teacher. She’s perfect for the Fulbright.”

Her advisor, Jed Deppman, assistant professor of English and director of the comparative literature program, is also delighted Klim has received the Fulbright.

“Emily was in my first-year seminar, and I suspected she would have a great career at Oberlin,” Deppman says. “She has developed outstanding skills in French and in Russian especially, and while her theoretical knowledge comes from many disciplines—literature, religion, history—her spirit and searching mind come from herself.”

When Klim was not working on her major–such as a senior project comparing the works and philosophies of French symbolist poet Stéphane Mallarmé and Russian poet and theologian Vladimir Solovyov, she managed the College’s Cat-in-the-Cream  Coffeehouse. There she helped book, facilitate, and publicize shows and make policy decisions. She also created the recipe for the Cat’s famed vegan oatmeal raisin cookies.

Klim says she is grateful to the members of the Oberlin faculty and staff who helped her work through “a pile of applications and make some difficult decisions this year. Faculty members Tom Newlin, Jed Deppman, Heather Hogan, Ruma Chopra, and Amanda Blasko and staff members Tom Reid and Carol Sedgwick have helped me tremendously.”