University Of Mobile: Q&A With UM Honors Program Director Stephen Schuler

Press release from the University of Mobile:

Kathy Dean

February 17, 2022

“I grew up reading the Bible, along with lots of books from the local public library,” said the University of Mobile professor of English. Now, as director of UM’s Honors Program, Schuler shares with students his passion for exploring literature, philosophy and theology.

We asked Schuler what makes UM’s Bachelor of Arts in English, Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing, and Honors Program stand out – and why it’s not always a bad thing to have a tree fall down in a hurricane.

Q: How did you become an English professor?

A: After a year of community college, I went to Grace College in Indiana where I met my wife and graduated with a degree in English Secondary Education. But after student teaching, I decided that teaching high school was not for me, so I went to Baylor University in Texas and earned my Ph.D. in English. There I not only learned about literature, but also about theology and philosophy.

Q: Who is your favorite author and why?

A: My dissertation studied the ways in which a modern English poet, W. H. Auden, picked up and used concepts from St. Augustine’s Christian classic, “The Confessions.” I first got interested in Auden in probably my senior year of college. I heard an interview with Auden scholar Alan Jacobs in which Jacobs read out a long prose passage from Auden’s Christmas poem, “For the Time Being.” The passage was funny and thought-provoking, and it moved me so much that I replayed the cassette tape several times so I could write out the passage longhand. Auden, I knew, was someone I needed to keep track of. I loved the fact that Auden was both a serious poet and a thoughtful Christian — though, I hasten to add, his personal life was often a mess. As it turned out, a lot of Auden’s admirers in the world of poetry really do not understand his Christianity, so my dissertation was a small attempt to uncover the theology that informed some of the major themes of his poetry.

Q: Why should someone choose to study English at the University of Mobile?

A: In the University of Mobile English program in the College of Arts and Sciences, we read great books together. We read novels, epics, plays and poetry. Our students are friendly and mutually supportive, and we cultivate real-world skills like clear, effective writing and oral presentation. Our classes are very discussion-oriented, so we learn to listen carefully, think critically and respond respectfully to what other people have to say. We are intentionally cultivating a love and reverence for the written word, both past and present. We offer courses in older literature, from Medieval literature and Shakespeare to Victorian novels, but we also have a creative writing major that emphasizes contemporary work. 

Q: What is your favorite class to teach?

A: My favorite course to teach is usually the one I’m teaching right now! In my British Literature survey courses, I get to lead students from the earliest Anglo-Saxon poetry right up to the end of the 20th century, and we learn not only about the works themselves, but also about their historical context. I love teaching Shakespeare, who is still such a readable, moving author even though his plays are over 400 years old. But I think one of my best classes is my senior-level course on John Milton, in which we read all his major works, especially “Paradise Lost.” A lot of my recent scholarly publications have focused on Milton, so in that class I get to integrate my teaching and my research.

This press release was produced by the University of Mobile. The views expressed here are the author’s own.