Haller’s zeal for literature goes beyond the classroom

Jessica Votipka
Staff Writer
Dec. 9, 2004, Page 12

English professor Evelyn Haller speaks quietly, carefully and with precision. Her experiences influence both her conversations and her teaching.
While Haller, chairwoman of the English department, is well-known for her classroom lessons, few realize how much she brings to Doane from outside the classroom. Haller's academic life often melds with her recreational time.
"I arrange my summers around conferences," Haller said. "There's an annual Virginia Woolf conference toward the end of June. The Ezra Pound Conference is every other year; I'm giving a paper on Ezra Pound's translation of a tragedy by Sophocles. That conference is going be in Italy."
This will not be Haller's first trip to Italy.
"Ezra Pound got me to Italy in the first place, with a National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Seminar for College Teachers in 1993,” Haller said. “I liked Italy so much I've taken every opportunity to go back."
In July of 2003, Haller was the chairwoman of the "Pound in the Thirties and Forties" session of the 20th International Ezra Pound Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho.
At the same conference, Haller gave a presentation entitled "The Centaur Leaping: Pound and Dance."
Haller said she enjoys traveling and interacting with others who share her interests and colleagues have noticed.
"She seems to thrive on that (travelling)," director of Student Support Services Sherri Hanigan said.
Students have also observed Haller’s passions in the classroom. Haller incorporates her own favorites with the interests of her students.
"That's very important to me; I'm profoundly attached to the work of Ezra Pound and Virginia Woolf and, to a lesser extent, Willa Cather,” Haller said. “So I try to share with students what I know and what I find out each summer.”
Often, Haller’s summer materials come in handy in the classroom.
“Sometimes the textbooks are helpful, sometimes I have to supplement them.
“I try to share with students what drew me into the profession and what keeps me there happily."
Students agree that Haller accomodates to her students’ own passions and needs.
"She goes with the class rather than having the class set before it starts," junior Brian Brimm said. "She was what I always envisioned for what a college professor should be like."