Dr. Abigail Keegan, English professor, is retiring after 29 years at OCU.
Keegan plans to retire after the 2019 spring semester after teaching literature surveys, poetry courses and linguistics for almost three decades. Her published works include three books of poetry and a literary criticism book about Lord Byron. She also served as sponsor for Students Against Sexism in Society. Keegan said she wants to step aside and make room for the next generation of English professors.
“There are a lot of young faculty out there who are just getting out of grad school who need jobs because there aren’t as many positions in the humanities as there used to be,” she said.
Keegan said she always dreamed of dedicating her life completely to writing and wants to continue poetry once she steps away from teaching. She is working on a poetry collection based on historical and modern female figures. Along with writing, Keegan said she looks forward to reading by the ocean.
“There are reams of things that I want to read, and I also am hoping to move somewhere closer to the sea, another thing I’ve wanted to do my whole life,” she said.
While employed at OCU, Keegan taught a fine arts course in Singapore. She said introducing her foreign students to music and visual art was extremely rewarding, as was watching the city develop.
“I could introduce them to museums, and to symphonies, and to public sculpture, and to architecture in their city, and it was thrilling for them and it was just as thrilling for me,” she said. “And I also got to watch Singapore grow into this incredibly beautiful, amazing, modern city.”
In addition to teaching abroad, Keegan also worked as a publisher for students and the director of the distinguished scholarship office. In this position, she helped students apply for highly competitive national scholarships.
“That was very intensive work with individuals,” Keegan said. “In fact, every student that I worked with said that it completely changed the way they thought about themselves as a thinker, a scholar and what they were going to do in the world.”
Keegan said she enjoys the years she’s spent at OCU because of the teaching opportunities she’s had and the close bonds formed between her and her students.
“I have really enjoyed teaching at OCU because of the kind of variety of teaching that I have been able to do and the kind of students that I’ve had, and also the personal relationships—because it’s a small school—that I’ve been able to develop with students over the years,” Keegan said.
Keegan said she hopes her impact encourages students to be passionate about ideas, reading and discussion.
“I hope I’ve left a legacy behind for people to love learning, to love reading, to love talking about what they learn and what they read,” Keegan said.
Jordan Tarter, English senior, said Keegan’s teaching challenges students to find new perspectives and their own voice.
“She really pushes students to broaden the way we think,” Tarter said. “To include ourselves in our art, to put your journey into the things that you write about.”
Tarter said she reveres Keegan for her values, and she is confident that others share her feelings.
“She’s invaluable—a woman of high moral character and spirit that I look up to and that I know many others do as well,” she said.
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