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Mrs. Anne Baker (BA 1990)

      Many students come in to an English degree because they are passionate about the subject. Anne Baker (née Thomas) (BA 1990), on the other hand, “looked at it as a way to strengthen an area I hadn't focused on before.”

     At first, Waterloo was an obvious choice for Anne because the university gave her transfer credits that other institutions would not. She was interested in courses from the Rhetoric and Professional Writing (RPW) option and therefore decided to pursue a degree in English.

     She particularly enjoyed classes with Professors Dave Goodwin (for whom she was a research assistant) and Jill Tomasson Goodwin (for whom she was a teaching assistant). She recalls the encouragement and advice she received from the Goodwins during her undergraduate degree, and the friendship she built with them when she returned to undertake doctoral studies. “They treated me as a colleague, and I appreciated that very much,” she says.

     Anne remembers Waterloo for its welcoming campus and friendly student population. “Even as a mature student,” she says, “I had many friends there.” She attended many social events that she enjoyed very much, particularly a medieval feast, organized by Professor Harry Logan, which she attended twice.

     After leaving Waterloo, Anne accepted a full-time teaching position at a college in Saskatchewan, but she quickly realized it was not where she wanted to be. She moved to Kamloops, British Columbia, where her sister lived. Today, she is a full-time, tenured faculty member at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops. Until June, 2010 she was a member of the English and Modern Languages Department, and today she works for the newly created Department of Journalism, Communication and New Media. Currently she is re-assigned for two years as Coordinator of TRU’s Writing Centre. She also teaches a Composition course online for TRU Open Learning.

     Anne credits her time at UW for her critical thinking skills. She also says that the faculty in the English Department taught her many essential teaching skills which she incorporates into her own career, particularly strategies that foster objectivity and understanding in teaching methods, along with an implicit belief in the importance of not only teaching, but also mentoring students.

     Anne also stresses that UW taught her the importance of maintaining a balanced lifestyle. Making the mistake of overworking herself early on in her academic career, she quickly learned a very valuable lesson: “Something that is a constant challenge is preventing work from consuming all my time to the detriment of health or time with family,” she says.