Sherry Vowel
Words are marvelous things. They have the ability to mend or rend, to
tether but not enslave the abstract, and to give wings to that which is
normally earthbound. Words heal and hurt, define and distort. Humans have
the ability to force order out of chaos merely by mastering words. That
said, after studying foreign languages--German, French, and Latin--for a
little over two years, Sherry Vowel changed the course of her life and
received her Bachelor of Arts in English and her Master of Arts in
English--Traditional Studies (which meant lots of reading and thinking and
writing about the reading and thinking) from the University of Central
Oklahoma.
She wrote an undergraduate honor's thesis on gothic
conventions and their propensity to create order out of chaos--a recurring
theme in literature and in life. Her master's thesis also dealt with the
gothic genre and the influence of American Puritanism on the American branch
of the gothic genre.
Like many of her peers, she was fortunate
enough to receive awards for academic achievement throughout her entire
school career. However, she is most proud to have received the Martin Ausmus
Scholarship Award in 1993, which was set up to honor the memory of an
excellent teacher who she was most fortunate to have as an instructor.
In addition to being a wonderful wife and a mother of twins, Sherry
Vowel now teaches English 1113 and English 1213 at the University of Central
Oklahoma and at Oklahoma City Community College. Her greatest asset in
teaching is her ability to see her students as individuals instead of just a
class.
Her goal as a teacher is not only to teach her students the
importance of words but also to learn something from her students each
semester. Her goal as a human being is to do more good than harm. Words
continue to fascinate her, which means she does a lot of reading and
thinking.
mailto:svowel@ucok.edu
English Department
University of Central
Oklahoma