Pitch –
For my profile feature, I’m considering Professor Ashley Quinlan, a teacher here at UNE for a little over a year now. She’s a trained sociologist with a focus on race, class and gender . She holds a masters from St. John’s University and a Bachelor of Arts from State University of New York College at Geneseo. Some of her achievements consist of obtaining this job so soon after completing her education. Throughout this profile, I want to dive into her teaching process, work ethic, and what it’s like teaching so young.
– What drove you to choose this path?
– When did you realize/find your talent in sociology.
– What do you think of the program here at UNE?
– Reflecting on your career, do you wish you could change anything/redo? If so what?
– What’s your process for preparing for a class?
– Despite not sharing your age, have you found any challenges regarding that?
– What are your strengths and weaknesses
– How do you find motivation to go back to school as a teacher after just finishing being a student?
Outline –
Headline
Subheadline
Introducing Quinlan and her background
Her history: choosing this path, finding her talent, reflecting
Thoughts on Soc. Program at UNE, Process of preparing for class, Quote
Challenges? Strengths/Weaknesses, Motivations, Student Quote
Early Draft –
Young Professor’s Rise to Teaching
Professor Quinlan shares her experience professing at UNE
Sarah Bedore
At the beginning of January 2023, Ashley Quinlan came to the University of New England for her first teaching job in Sociology. She’s a trained sociologist with a focus on race, class, and gender but her classes branch out to Intro to Sociology, Sociology of Climate Change, and several others. Before coming to Maine, she obtained a Master’s from St. John’s University and a Bachelor of Arts from the State University of New York College at Geneseo. Some of her achievements consist of obtaining this job, installing curiosity in her students, and being a T.A. in her junior year of college. Despite, Quinlan never disclosing her age or other personal matters, she’s done a remarkable job of connecting with her students and creating a comfortable environment to learn in. When teaching social science, Quinlan breaks down the key ideas from course textbooks and explains the ‘why’ factor. Why does this topic matter and how does it relate to the current climate of our world? Her biggest hope for students is their takeaway; she wants them to notice changes in life, how we interact with each other, and look at society through a new lense.
Workshop Draft –
Young Professor’s Rise to Teaching
Professor Quinlan shares what it’s like professing at UNE
Sarah Bedore
In January 2023, Ashley Quinlan came to the University of New England for her first teaching job. She’s a trained sociologist with a focus on race, class, and gender but her classes branch out to other sociology topics.
Before coming to Maine, she obtained a Master’s from St. John’s University and a Bachelor of Arts from the State University of New York College at Geneseo. Quinlan originally majored in English but took a sociology class as an elective. By her sophomore year, she found her passion in the study and explained how it was an eye-opening experience. Quinlan expressed her town had little diversity and was mostly working-class.
“I started to question the things I experienced growing up in my small town. My education made me more aware…”
Taking a look at the Sociology program at UNE, she was grateful for the diversity. Despite wishing for more Soc. majors, many of her students overlap through classes which is great for building rapport. UNE’s environment has proved to be friendly through its community which greatly motivates the professors.
Natalie Borzi is a Marine Science sophomore, currently in Quilan’s Soc 240 class. She expressed, “I was pleasantly surprised when first meeting Professor Quinlan, despite being younger she is very nice and well put together. I knew it would be a solid class; it’s a comfortable environment to participate in and the course is set up well to keep the topics interesting.”
Quinlan teaches other courses such as Intro to Sociology, and Sociology of Climate Change. Some of her achievements consist of obtaining this job and instilling curiosity in her students. When teaching social science, she breaks down the key ideas from course textbooks and explains the ‘why’ factor. Her biggest hope for students is their takeaway; she wants them to notice changes in society, how we interact with each other, and look at life from a new perspective.
“When organizing for class, I try to relate the topics to something relevant in society. Connecting what we learn to the real world helps provoke discussion and incorporate students. They need to understand why this topic matters and how it relates to the current climate of our world.”
Despite Quinlan never disclosing her age, she’s done a remarkable job of keeping her classroom professional and creating a healthy sense of authority.
“I had never heard of UNE prior to applying to this job…I was kind of flying blind…Once I got adjusted I noticed students felt naturally comfortable with me and shared a lot. I’m certainly less intimidating than someone who’s been here for 30 years…but there have been times when I’ve worried about establishing respect. My go-to is to just stare them down, make them feel uncomfortable, and hope they get the hint. If not, I usually ask to talk after class.”
Quinlan expressed she’s glad she took this opportunity regardless of how terrifying it was in the beginning. It has helped her grow more confident and strengthen some of her skills. She grew up with a strong work ethic and has always been dedicated to her job. She describes herself as a bit of a workaholic and perfectionist, however,
“Teaching is an imperfect thing…100% of the time I’m not going to do it right, I just hope that we can do better as we move through the semester.”
The study of Sociology is more relevant now than ever in today’s social and political standing; it’s something students should be curious about.
“If you dive into a sociological perspective, it completely changes everything about your life. How you view the world and how you interact with people, it’s almost like we’re looking at the world through a new lens.”
Professor Quinlan’s office is located on the third floor of Decary. For any questions, you can reach her at: aquinlan3@une.edu
Revised Profile –
Workshop Experience –
Going into this peer review, I was nervous about the length of my article, my use of quotes, and the overall storytelling and character presentation aspect. Looking at the headline, I can add ‘a’ to the beginning, and for the sub-headline, I can clarify, ‘what it’s like…’. I could change verbiage like ‘professing’ so it’s less awkward of a title. My group discussed taking a look at some of my paragraphs early on because they’re a bit wordy, so restructuring my words but keeping the same information will help. It was also suggested to add more quotes from Quinlan like her statement about the environment at UNE and the great faculty here. Hearing more quotes from my profile will help add perspective and explanation. Overall, I was relieved that my article wasn’t as rough as I perceived it to be
Editorial Team Reflection –
My group’s peer review with Zak, Phoebe, and Elia, offered a lot of good critiques and held some common themes. For my profile, it was suggested that I add more quotes from Quinlan to show off her perspective. Instead of explaining something, I can use her words as the explanation which creates credibility in the statements the piece makes; let the quotes speak for themselves. My group reflected on, as writers, it’s important we don’t get in the way of the profile and avoid putting outside statements or our thoughts in a story. Adding more of Quinlan’s quotes will help increase my word count and keep the focus on her. We also discussed how different writing a profile is from a regular informative article. Since it’s highlighting a person, the writer needs to be accurate in the quotes. We talked about how helpful recording the interviews is and during the final steps of writing, checking in with the profile. Accurately quoting and representing a person not only makes the article credible but the journalist as well. Some feedback I found helpful came from Elia’s profile as we discussed the importance of imagination. As journalists, we want to make the profile interesting, creating scenery or giving a description of the person helps readers make a connection to the person through their imagination. Finally, we discussed looking at our projects from a reader’s perspective. There has to be a balance between keeping the article enjoyable for all and providing context so anyone can understand. This becomes more of a challenge with specific profiles like focusing on football or a renowned doctor.
Profile Story Reflection –
Overall, this project was a great experience for getting a taste of journalism and practicing profile writing. As a student, I learned to write academic way so at the beginning of this process, it was hard to shift that skill. I practiced writing professionally while being creative and concise. One take-away is that writing for the reader means not letting your own views and perspectives get in the way. It means providing context because you know the information but the viewers don’t, they need to be informed. For the profile, it’s extremely important to let the quotes speak for themselves. Quotes add personality from the profile and can also stand for credibility. When it came to interviews, I found my first one nerve-wracking but as I gained more confidence it became easier. I’ve found it helpful to plan out my questions before, record the interview so I can be attentive, and treat it like a conversation rather than an interrogation. A big takeaway for me is that you might not always get the story you were looking for. I could go into an interview with one idea and leave with something completely new, this can change the revision process and open the door for a new topic. For my project, I struggled with being set on an idea yet having to change it to fit the focus. During the writing process, I felt like it blocked my creativity which is so important when writing soft news; an article should have spice and character to it. Through the revision process, I thought I improved my skills with the help of quotes. During the workshop, I found it useful to critique other student’s projects in a few ways. The peer review acted as a set of fresh eyes and gave a new perspective to my draft, It also was reassuring to see my peers struggling with the same things. The editing process helped the class learn from each other and build off the knowledge accumulated over the course. Going forward, I now know what makes a good journalist and the key elements of crafting a profile article.
