There are some professors who teach and you remember what they taught you. There are some professors who become mentors. And then there are some professors who become family. This is the story of one professor who teaches with the intention to not only make her students learn, but to help them grow together.
I first met Professor Katie Hays in my freshman year, when I was still meeting professors from different prospective majors and trying to understand where I belonged. Even though it was our first meeting, she immediately took an interest in guiding and supporting me in my writing journey. She shared writing opportunities whenever they came up, checked in and made space for conversation. What stood out was that she did not treat that first meeting as a formality. She treated it as the beginning of a relationship.
In my sophomore year, I had the opportunity to take ENCW 204 Poetry Workshop with her and that class made me fall in love with creative writing. It was not just because of poetry itself, but because of the community she built around it. We were not just learning different styles or experimenting with form. We were learning how writing can exist within a community, how we can express, listen and grow together. She created a classroom where everyone felt comfortable sharing work that was still in progress, messy, and uncertain. And instead of feeling intimidating, the classroom felt supportive. That was because she made it that way.
One of the most important things Professor Hays teaches in Poetry Workshop is that writing is a process. You do not walk into the class as a perfect writer, and you do not leave as one either. Instead, you leave as someone who understands revision, patience and the importance of listening. In workshop, you learn how to give feedback, how to receive it and how to see your own writing from new perspectives. More importantly, you learn how to be part of a literary community, something that many students do not expect when they first enroll in the course.
Poetry can be uncomfortable. It asks you to be honest in ways that are often difficult. It asks you to be raw, but also to give that rawness a structure and a shape. Professor Hays showed us that discomfort is not something to avoid, but something you can work through on the page. She showed us that writing is not just about producing a poem, but about understanding yourself and others a little more each time you sit down to write. She was always encouraging, always reminding us that writing is a process and that growth takes time. She celebrated small improvements, small risks and small moments of honesty in our writing, and that made us want to keep trying.
What makes Professor Hays special is how she shows up for her students. She checks in. She remembers what you told her weeks ago and asks about it again. She follows up. She encourages you to apply for opportunities, to submit your work, to believe that your writing deserves to be read. She supports you in ways that go beyond the classroom. She is there when you need a mentor, gently pushing you toward opportunities you might not have considered for yourself.
And she is there in the moments that matter outside academics, too. Whether you are part of a play, hosting a club event or participating in a game, she shows up. Because she cares. At some point, the dynamic stops feeling like a student and professor relationship. It begins to feel like a learner and a guide. Someone who is teaching you, but also walking beside you while you figure things out.
A semester ends, but the impact of a professor like that does not end with it. It stays with you in the way you write, in the way you encourage others and in the way you begin to believe in yourself.
So if you are still deciding on your courses for next fall, consider taking Poetry Workshop with Professor Katie Hays, offered Mondays from 10 to 12:50 p.m or Wednesdays from 10 to 12:50 p.m. You may sign up for a poetry class, but you will leave with much more than that. You will leave with a community, with encouragement and with someone who will continue to support you long after the class is over.
