Here is the interview that Eric, one of our rush chairs, wrote after sitting down with her:
Hey Alumns,
I’M EXCITED TO TELL YOU ABOUT OUR NEW HOUSE ADVISOR Julie
Kalish. Stemming from the Dartmouth Moving Forward initiative, the college
requires every house to have one male and one female house sponsor (or
advisor). That advisor is in charge of overseeing house events, connecting
Tri-Kap to the larger Dartmouth academic community, and acting as a faculty
resource for academic and emotional support. Our female advisor is a member of Dartmouth's Class of 1991 who could never let go of the granite state’s beauty. After growing up in a
suburb outside of Philadelphia, Ms. Kalish’s first college visit to Dartmouth
was an inspiring one. Instantly falling in love with Hanover’s spring beauty,
she chose to apply early and never looked back. While at Dartmouth, she
followed her passions majoring in English and minoring studio art—well
basically considering she was two classes away and did not even realize. Her
biggest activity on campus was RWIT where she started to develop her passion
for teaching. She boasts of living in the Choates before they were decrepit,
joining Panarchy because of their inclusivity, artsy nature, and quirkiness,
and being affiliated with Casque & Gauntlet her senior year. After graduating, she did not know what to
pursue; she loved culture, she loved traveling, and she loved London. So, she
applied and was accepted to University College London graduate school program for English.
Eventually, graduate school ended, Professor Kalish, as she would now be known,
started working as a TA for writing 2-3 back at Dartmouth. After a year of
working, getting a higher degree job and following her dream of becoming a
professional puppeteer caused her to leave Dartmouth once again and find work
in New York City. A job with Sesame Street was her biggest fantasy. Getting
closer to that dream, she worked an unpaid internship at a children’s
television workshop while being a personal assistant to a celebrity power
couple for some extra money. Eventually, the idea starts to dawn on her that
the workshop could not be her end career so she goes back once again to
Dartmouth to now teach writing 2-3. At only 26, she was responsible for
teaching fifteen Dartmouth students how to properly write and more importantly
THINK. She loved teaching but felt that she was a little too young to be a full
time professor and maybe a city would be a better social environment. Moving to
San Francisco was not as easy as expected, and working as a grant writer in the
city for about a year, came to the realization that Dartmouth was her true home
and teaching young adults how to critically think was truly her passion. 5
years later, Professor Kalish made the decision that a PhD in English was not
the route for her and made the decision to pursue law school to make a
difference. A trip to Alaska made her fervent about environmental issues, so
she quit teaching for a small time to pursue law school at VLS (Vermont Law
School). Post-graduation, VLS gave her an impeccable offer if to come back and
build a new program to help revamp the bar passing rate. She knew the school,
she knew the system, and she knew the student. She could not refuse. However,
shortly after accepting the job, Professor Kalish had a final awakening. What
she loved about teaching undergraduates is that they have a fresh mind and are
just beginning their professional path. All VLS students are too many student
loans deep into not graduating, so sometimes it’s hard to convince potentially
out-of-place lawyers that a different path may be more conducive to their
success. She ended up quitting her job at VLS, and once again returned to
Dartmouth to teach writing 2-3 and 5 while also working in conjunction with
the ACLU of Vermont.
I had Professor Kalish my freshman
Fall for Writing 5, so I can attest to her kind heart, great teaching skills,
and ability to make young adults want to learn. She allows all her students to
develop their own right answer as long as they can provide a sound argument as
to how they arrived to their own conclusion. I personally grew in ways I cannot
express in both my oral and written debate skills, and I credit that to
Professor Kalish. She is a soft-spoken woman who will tell you what you need
hear to improve. She is a great confidential source for everyone in our
house, both in academia and personal growth. I could not be more
thrilled to have been given such a great faculty member as our new house
advisor.
Best,
Eric Fett '18
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