Meg Mikovits, an instructor in the English Department, has been working at Moravian since 2008. Additionally, she is the Writing Fellows Program Coordinator, as well as the Writing Center Coordinator. Before beginning her work at the College, Mikovits attended Moravian as an undergraduate and got her master’s degree at West Chester University.  

What inspired you to go into your field of study?

I didn’t know that I was going to be an English major. I was truly undecided when I started college. I thought I might major in science for a little while, but I had Writing 100 at the time, which was what the first-year writing class was and I really enjoyed that. I took a basic literature class the next semester and I liked that, as well. My sophomore year, I was nominated to be a Writing Center Tutor. I realized I really liked writing and talking to people about writing, so I became an English major.

What research are you currently working on?

I work with Dr. Fodrey and Dr. Yozell, and the three of us have this ongoing project regarding digital multimodal projects. So, students creating videos, podcasts, posters, infographics, documentaries, and all other types of assignments that diverge from the traditional academic written paper. We do a lot of research looking at how people teach these types of projects in their classes and how students do them. We try to figure out how we can help people teach those more effectively and how to make the projects meaningful for students. I also do some research on the Writing Fellows program and the Writing Center in regard to how Writing Fellows and Writing Center Tutors can help students transfer their writing abilities from one context to another.

What do you think is the most recent important development in your field of study?

There has been a lot of fairly recent research on transfer, which is basically the study of how writers take things they learned in prior writing contexts and then figure out how to re-mix or re-apply that knowledge to new writing situations. That has been really interesting and relevant to what I am interested in and also to what Dr. Fodrey, Dr. Yozell, and I do.

What job would you have if you couldn’t be a professor, regardless of salary and job outcome? Why?

I like things that are very systematic and organized, so I would work for the Lego Company and make new Lego sets. I really enjoy puzzles, building things, and putting things together.

What do you know now that you wished you knew when you were in college?

Everything! I think it would be really interesting to go back in time but keep my current level of knowledge and do things again. But I think as an undergraduate I wasn’t aware of or didn’t think that I could engage in undergraduate research, in terms of honors or SOAR. I never gave much thought to it, or if I did, I thought that it was for super elite students and not for me. But I know now that’s not the case and that anybody interested in something can have the opportunity to get involved in research at an undergraduate level.

What is your biggest student pet peeve?

I try not to have [pet peeves] because everyone is learning and figuring stuff out and not everybody went to college with the same level of understanding about how college works. I guess I dislike when students have an attitude of “I tried nothing, but nothing is working.” I’m always super glad to help, but I find it a little bit frustrating when students have questions about something they’ve not even attempted to figure out on their own.

What was the last streaming show that you binge-watched or the last good book that you read?

I was sort of a late comer to “The Good Place.” I’m all caught up on that now, but we binged the first two seasons. I’m currently watching “Fat, Salt, Acid, Heat.” It’s amazing and makes me so hungry. The last good book I read was actually an audiobook that I listened to and I can’t imagine how it would be better in print because the audio was so amazing, and that is “Lincoln in the Bardo” by George Saunders. So, so good!

What is something interesting about you that most of people don’t know?

Before we had children, my husband and I had a huge garden and raised chickens. We contemplated being professional farmers for a time.

What’s your spirit animal and why?

I guess I don’t really have a spirit animal!

What is your favorite thing about working for the English Department?

The English Department is so great. My colleagues are amazing and so are the students. I feel like Zinzendorf is a really productive and happy place.