2020 Retiring Faculty

Karen Poremski

Professor of English
(2002-2020)

Karen M. Poremski—a beloved teacher, mentor, and scholar who did much to diversify the curriculum both within and beyond the classroom—retired from Ohio Wesleyan in July 2020.

Karen received a B.A. from the University of Maryland-College Park, an M.A. from San Francisco State University, and a Ph.D. from Emory University. Having joined the OWU faculty in 2002, Karen swiftly established herself as an exceptional—and exceptionally dedicated—teacher. She regularly taught courses in early American, 19th-century American, and women’s literature, as well as the College Writing Seminar.

The University recognized Karen’s pedagogical virtuosity by awarding her the Sherwood Dodge Shankland Award in 2006. Her impressive run of teaching awards culminated in 2011, when the United Methodist Church bestowed its Exemplary Teacher Award, a national prize, upon her.

Karen’s teaching and scholarly interests became increasingly focused on Native American and Indigenous literatures and cultures. She created and taught the University’s first survey course in Native American literature. For many years, she led students on a spring break service trip to the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Students regularly described this experience as life-changing. In 2014, Karen broadened the scope of her engagement with the Indigenous cultures of the Americas to include the Pacific Islands, leading students on a two-month research trip to Hawai’i. Between 2012 and 2017, Karen attended the Native American Literature symposium, where she delivered papers that explore the ways Indigenous writers depict the relationship between Native peoples, museums, and the objects the latter exhibit.

In addition to being a passionate teacher and scholar, Karen was deeply committed to faculty governance and University citizenship. She participated in a wide variety of committees, notably the President’s Commission on Racial and Cultural Diversity, the Academic Status Committee, and the Assessment Committee—in the latter two cases, she served as chair. Rare was the faculty meeting, theatrical production, or lecture where she was not in attendance. Karen was easy to spot: an inveterate knitter, she usually sat near the front, overseeing the event like a benevolent Madame Defarge.

Karen’s final years at OWU were characterized, although never defined, by her battle with Chronic Lyme Disease, a little-understood and highly debilitating condition. Karen faced—and continues to face—this struggle with characteristic bravery, openness, and optimism. Nor did it prevent her from doing what she does best: sharing her passion for literature and Indigenous cultures. As the recipient of the 2017-18 Benjamin T. Spencer lectureship, Karen delivered an electrifying presentation on the seemingly unlikely subject of “Building Canoes, Building Poetry.” Additionally, she has advised the University on its communications policy pertaining to Native Americans and Indigenous peoples. In her writing, Karen has taken up creative nonfiction and poetry, extending her generic range.

In her final public act at the University, Karen will bestow the diploma on her son, Dexter, who graduates with the Class of 2021. It is an eminently fitting conclusion to Karen’s academic career, which has been defined from first to last by service to students.