Honors Link

“Well, this young lady is going places.”

That’s the first impression that School of Writing, Literature, and Film Assistant Professor Elena Passarello had of Honors College student Jessica Kibler. “She was bright and engaging and obviously tuned in. I was excited to see that in an undergrad.”

Kibler’s undergraduate journey lived up to these high expectations, taking her to a range of places and through a variety of accomplishments before she graduated in June, 2014 with an Honors Baccalaureate of Arts in English.

She capped her final year at Oregon State with recognition as a College of Liberal Arts Outstanding Senior for “exemplary academic achievements, university and community service, and personal and professional goals.” This award joined the OSU Provost’s Literary Prize, on the strength of essays she wrote, and the Valley Library’s Himes & Duniway Society Book Collecting Contest.

These honors represented the culmination of a diverse and varied undergraduate experience unified by her passions for writing and engagement with her community. In addition to internships with the OSU Office of Government Relations and OSU Press, where she was the George P. Griffis Publishing Intern, she wrote for OSU’s Daily Barometer; the newsletter of the School of Writing, Literature, and Film; and the University Honors College. After she returned from a term abroad in Lancaster, UK, she was hired by Associate Dean of the College of Liberal Arts Marion Rossi to lead a project to create a virtual guide to art on campus.
“There’s a lot of [visual] art at OSU, but no central record of what or where it is,” she recalls. “Just like someone had created an app to see and learn about trees on campus, (Rossi) wanted an Art Walk. He came to the Honors College for students to locate and write about each piece. I started researching all the public art and started writing artist bios for a database and mobile website.

“Eventually, Dr. Rossi said I was ‘in charge.’ I hired other students to help me and set up a relationship with the Valley Library to program the site and host and maintain it long-term. I have learned a ton – like about administering a project, and creating and keeping track of a budget. We have 600 pieces documented so far, and we are still in development. We hope to be done in this fall [2014].”

Rapid advancement was a hallmark of her experience. Recognizing her talent, Passarello had encouraged Kibler to register in ‘split’ classes, which include undergraduate as well as graduate students.

“In upper-level courses, she held her own,” says Passarello. ”For creative non-fiction writing, she would approach each piece asking, ‘How can I take a personal story, and pair it with research, and make it connect with something universal, what the reader needs?’ That’s what I look for in bringing graduate students to our program.”

“There were two Honors colloquia classes that really stood out for me. The first one was Science, Aesthetics, and the Invention of Altered States and the other was Historical Fictions and Fictional Histories. I just loved both of those classes. I think the interdisciplinary side of the HC is what makes Honors courses work so well. And having interactions with such a wide variety of students gave me a different perspective on my own writing.” – Jessica Kibler

Once Kibler identified the topic of her Honors thesis as creative non-fiction, Passarello says, “I talked her into entering my graduate seminar. Some of the students already had Master of Fine Arts degrees from other programs; some had been editors or had top publishing credits.”

Kibler recalls, “I was terrified beforehand. But they weren’t intimidating – they were humans. I wasn’t the only one who hesitated before answering questions. And they accepted me. It was great, not only to have my stuff read and critiqued by these other writers, but also to read what they were writing. To be a part of that community and have writer friends that were interested in the same things I’m interested in was amazing.”

Her thesis ended up consisting of a collection of essays about music that “attempt to create a conversation between personal and collective truths.” One essay contemplates a band’s six-hour performance of a single song, “Sorrow,” and a time in Kibler’s life when she felt isolated. Another discusses distraction, depression, and empathy – juxtaposed with medical lore about a katzenklavier, a piano whose mechanism struck and thus elicited screeches from cats; the instrument was purported to have been played to treat human patients who had lost ability to focus their attention, or who suffered from melancholy.

Passarello says, “Jessica’s using the tools of writing to dig deeper into herself. And she’s generous – I respect her as an essayist who reaches out. Her thesis displays incredible cohesion across essays, the disparate inquiries. She’s a curious – meaning inquiring – essayist. It’s amazing that she was able to put it together. (And) I’m always impressed by a young writer’s ability to blend humor and formal research.”

Since her graduation, Kibler has continued to write “a little” while finishing the Art Walk project and working at Powell’s Books in Portland. She is considering freelance journalism but also other types of writing. “I’m super open to all of it.”

Passarello says, “I’m excited to see Jessica gain confidence. She’s cast a wide net and has been making all the right choices. I can see her as the type of writer Rosalind Russell played in His Girl Friday, the one the editor gives the wackiest assignments to, and she leaps at them.”

By Jana Zvibleman