Oberlin Blogs

Prof. David Walker ’72

My name's David Walker, and I'm a professor in the English Department, where I teach modern and contemporary literature, dramatic literature, and creative writing. I'm also an Oberlin graduate. I help to edit a poetry magazine and books for Oberlin College Press, and I've published numerous articles, reviews, and books in my field, but I think of teaching as my primary vocation. I've taught at Oberlin since 1977, and have never had the urge to look for a position anywhere else. I hope my blog will begin to suggest why.

I've been involved as a volunteer in the admissions effort for some time, so I have a sense of the sorts of questions that can loom large for prospective students and their parents. I know it can be a stressful process, and the other bloggers and I are here to provide perspectives that we hope will be genuinely useful to you as you take charge of your college search. I'll be checking in here from time to time to help you get a sense of life in Oberlin from a faculty point of view, but I hope to take most of my cues for blog posts from questions from you, so please feel free to let me know what's on your mind by commenting on my blog.

Entries from this blogger

The Adventure Begins

February 10, 2012

You know the feeling when something that has existed only in your imagination suddenly starts to take shape in reality? Well, that's exactly what the past week has been like.

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Oberlin in London

July 4, 2010

Why the semester you don't spend in Oberlin can be the most valuable part of your Oberlin education. For one thing, it raises the stakes.

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Dazed and confused

September 6, 2009

Since several students have written about the excitement and sense of anticipation embodied in the start of the school year, I hope I won't seem too cranky in saying that Orientation always leaves me feeling at least as disoriented as the first-years.

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Admitted students--it's your turn!

April 1, 2009

Now comes the last but often unexpectedly difficult part of the admissions process: weighing your various options and deciding which of the colleges that have admitted you would be the best fit for the next exciting phase of your life.

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"The middle of nowhere"

April 17, 2008

For some reason, people seem obsessed by the image of cornfields. Yes, it's true that in the countryside of Lorain County there are lots of small farms, but there are no cornfields visible from the campus, no cows grazing on Tappan Square.

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