The Rabbit Hole of Words

The Rabbit Hole of Words

The Rabbit Hole of Words 

An Interview with Amanda Callendrier

“I don’t care what anybody thinks about my writing, but my shoes, that’s really nice,” Amanda laughs at herself. 

Amanda Callendrier is an academic advisor as well as composition and creative writing professor at Webster Geneva. She’s also working towards a doctorate and is a published author. In 2017 she released her debut novel Camino Beach. She studied English and French before ending up at Webster, almost accidentally, after falling in love with a French man. “Life happens and you just have to go with it, but you also have to be open to it,” she adds. 

Amanda is inarguably one of the coolest professors on campus. She sits down for the interview rocking Puma sneakers, skinny jeans, and a bright red fluffy jacket. It’s very bold, and I’m a little jealous. She turns in her chair and chuckles, the wall of books behind her in the Webster learning center is composed almost entirely of her own collection. She even grabs one to take back home with her. For Amanda, creativity and storytelling, in all its forms, is everything. 

“I think people who write or do creative things just always did. You don’t know when you started because you just always do it,” she says, reminiscing on childhood. Writing her own stories came as naturally as reading or writing, she doesn’t remember ever learning because that’s the way it always was. Inspiration came from everywhere; from watching way too much television to reading Roald Dahl, Stephen King, and Agatha Christie, even from a young age. 

So how does she manage to balance everything in her life with creative writing? “The short answer is I don’t,” she sighs, “And it weighs on you to have the things you want to work on that you can’t, but it’s really just finding a moment in between projects and deadlines where you can work.” Yet, writing finds a way to make time for itself. Amanda explains that even when she’s not actively working on a project, she’s still making progress. Just by existing, going places, and listening to people talk you can get inspired. Now she’s working on her second manuscript and wondering how COVID-19 will impact the future of writing. Will stories now have to be set in a post COVID world, or will we get tired of that? 

The labor of love that was Camino Beach took three years from idea to publication. After bringing a first page to a Meet the Agents event held at Webster, Amanda realized she was onto something. The agents loved the page and so she wrote the first chapter. The main writing took nine months and by the end neither the original first page or the first chapter had made it in. It then took months to get an agent who wanted to publish the book, but eventually she found one.

“Meanwhile, I decided I hated it and I rewrote the whole thing,” Amanda says. Like most writers she is never fully satisfied with her work. “Usually you go through and think, how could I have written this garbage? Then you get back to a point where you’re okay with it. You kind of have to find yourself on a good day and force yourself to stop. The good thing is I had a team who directed me. I admire someone who self publishes, and especially someone who self publishes and is successful. I don’t know how they do it because I needed a village.” 

For a lot of writers getting published is the ultimate goal. It’s the mark of success, ultimate validation, and proof to others that your little hobby can pay off. For Amanda, it was different. She quotes Anne Lamott in Bird by Bird, “If you weren’t enough before publication, you won’t be enough after publication.” Getting published was only ever secondary to the work itself. “It’s about the story and the work. The work has to be enough on its own,” Amanda explains, “but publication is great if it lets you do the work or helps you feel justified in doing it.” 

Though she remains proud of herself and her work, Amanda finds no validation in how well her novel was received. “I’m completely ambivalent of anybody’s opinion about the work,” she says. “It feels like it has no connection to me whatsoever. It leaves me absolutely cold.” She stays away from reading any reviews, and hasn’t even read the book herself. “I’ll talk about the story writing process for days, that’s tremendously rewarding. But the book itself? Those characters are dead to me, it’s done.” 

Writing is a hobby for some and a part of life for others. For Amanda it is clearly the latter. So, why does she write? “I have to,” she responds, without a second of hesitation. “If I could choose not to, I would choose not to. I think it would be better for me to spend more time at the gym or making new recipes. But I have to. There’s something interesting about going down the rabbit hole of words. I used to think you have to do it all the time. I think that there are points in time where you write a lot and times when you’re not going to write, but you’ll come back to it because one day the story will come up and you’ll have to.” 

Inside the Psych Department with Vlad Glaveanu

Inside the Psych Department with Vlad Glaveanu

Vlad P. Glaveanu is Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Psychology at Webster University Geneva, Switzerland. He’s also director of the Webster Center for Creativity and Innovation (WCCI). His work focuses on creativity, imagination, culture, collaboration, and societal challenges. We caught up with Vlad about what goes on in the psych department. 

 

What kind of activities and research is the psych department involved in? What’s the goal for the department?

We have a few programs; the BA, the BS, the minor in general psychology, and the counseling masters that adds a level of professionalism so that students can actually become a counselor and practitioner once they finish. 

We have a large variety of research topics in the department. Many of them relate to mental health and wellbeing, trauma, and growing out of trauma. So that’s a lot of the clinical counseling part. Then we have social psychology topics. We’re looking at online spaces, politics, IR, and creativity and innovation, which are of special interest because of the center we have. So we’re looking at how creative innovation transforms society. Then we have a lot of other specific topics, like family dynamics and even some related to spirituality. We have worked on it all. 

What opportunities does Webster provide students studying psychology?

 

Well, first and foremost, to graduate with a solid foundation in psychology. So you’ll emerge with either the BA or the BS in psychology and then you can specialize further. It’s a very good academic foundation. You know, we offer courses in all major areas of psychology. 

We have all of these events and all of these experts coming in. So we try to keep people up to date and then you have possibilities to do something practical. So if you are an undergrad and you want to go for an internship Webster helps students find them. Then as a counseling student you have 700 hours of internship and practice that you have to do. There is a lot of theory and hands-on applied experience and I think the big value is that being a small tight-knit community, we know each other and we have a better chance of understanding what people actually are interested in and responding to that. 

There are many jobs that require a masters, if you want to work in human resources or something around management or education. If you want to work in the clinical side that’s where we have the masters that helps people become counselors. It’s not psychotherapy, it’s a different thing, counseling is a bit of a more inclusive profession. 

 

How can students contribute and participate within the department?

 

So first is the psychology club. I’m hoping it’s coming back because it is a student led initiative. So we, the professors, are trying to support it, but not to officially run it. I’ve always offered that I can help with the academic part, meaning whatever speaker students would want, we can try to find a way. Whatever topic you want to approach, we can try to do that. 

Second one is we have many events that require help. We have departmental meetings and WCCI meetings that students can volunteer at to gain the practical experience of organizing events and contact with the speakers. 

Finally, I would love to see students engage in hot topics of debate. I’d like proposals from students where they mention intriguing topics that they care about, like conspiracy theories, anti-vax, nationalism and what it means, depression and anxiety. There’s so many things that psychologists could address and it would be nice to have student feedback. 

 

What is the psychology and society group?

 

When I joined three years ago, I wanted to understand what kind of research we do, and what we do is we meet every couple of months and we each present our research as members of the staff. So that it’s a way of keeping us up to date with the latest in the discipline. It’s open to many people; faculty, students, undergraduate, and postgraduate, minors in psych. Anyone interested but you have to be associated with psych because it’s a bit more specialized. 

 

Is there anything that you’d like for prospective students to know?

 

For prospective students, I think one of the biggest questions is what is the difference between the BA and the BS. Content wise it’s more or less the same degree but the BS adds more on methodology, research, and on the hard science kind of components like genetics or biology. So you would definitely become a psychologist with both but you would be a more experienced researcher if you do a BS, which is a very good skill to have. For students who want to continue with the masters a BS is the best route. We also have the option of a BA with an emphasis in mental health. Students interested may need to check the Webster St. Louis psychology catalogue and talk to us about tailoring a program. 

 

What is the WCCI?

 

Oh, it’s fabulous! This is a center that’s not within psychology, but it includes everyone on campus because it’s an inter-departmental center. So we recognize creativity, innovation and the things everyone is interested in from business, to the world of politics and IR, to media and photography, and obviously psychology. So this became an emerging theme and that’s why we have a center around it and we organize so many events.

We have several different series. One of them is Meet the Artist, which is run by Julianna Bark, in collaboration with the center and within the department. So that’s one way of meeting actual creators. We also have workshops, seminars, an expressive arts lab, the Spotlight Seminar (with Francesco Arese Visconti), and a series of lectures with a speaker every couple of months.  

We also have a Creativity Week every year in June, with a whole week of lectures, workshops, and even artistic exhibitions. People come from all over the world, so we’re really into experimenting with all sorts of things.

 

How do you foster creativity and innovation in yourself and in students?

 

What I’m very concerned with is building up climates or environments for creativity. It’s important to think about yourself as a person, but also about the world you live in. Everything we surround ourselves with matters for one’s own creativity, so what I would recommend is to be open to multiple perspectives at all times, even the ones you don’t agree with. Also, be a bit less linear in the way you think. A lot of times people jump from problem to solution. Give yourself that time to just wander around the problem and look at it in different ways. Finally, I would say there is something valuable about flexibility. Don’t make up your mind immediately and talk to other people.

Changes in Webster Geneva’s Walker School of Business & Technology

Changes in Webster Geneva’s Walker School of Business & Technology

78 Magazine talks to Dominique Jolly (DJ) about the School’s Activities.

78: What are some of the Business Department’s key strengths? 

DJ: As the Geneva campus of Webster University, we are a part of a large network and we have the opportunity to cover all domains of business including economics, accounting, finance, law and regulations, human resources management, organizational behavior, strategy, and marketing. Other strengths include our large range of programs from Bachelor to doctorate. Our DBA program is a continuation of education in Business Administration. Finally, we have a group of professors that are specialized in health care management that is not present in Switzerland as much.

78: What are the things you’d like for current and prospective students to know? 

DJ: Webster University offers a double accreditation, the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) and the Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP), which are relevant for both current and prospective students. Currently, we are pursuing the Swiss institutional accreditation, which would be the third accreditation we’d offer to our students.

78: What kind of activities or research is your department involved in? 

DJ: We cover a large range of timely topics. Current research that our department is focused on is Behavioral Economics by Krista Saral, Behavioral Finance by Michal Paserman, Agility by Aleksandra Jancikova, Electronic Communication by Fernando Lagrana, Internet of Things and Big Data by Claude Chaudet, and Healthcare System by Francoise Maillard. Also, I am focusing on Doing Business in China.

78: What are some of the new degree changes? 

DJ: We introduced a new Certificate in Entrepreneurship at the undergraduate level with an aim to help students in starting their own businesses, as this became a popular topic amongst our student community. Furthermore, our proposal for implementing a Certificate in Research at the graduate level has just been approved. Upcoming changes include a Certificate in Cyber Security to be launched by Claude Chaudet in September, who works very closely in our school in the segment of information technology. This was initiated due to high demand, as current statistics from Cisco Systems, Inc. show that there are around one million vacancies open in the field of Cyber Security in the United States. Finally, we plan to launch other new programs that are still in preparation and development.

78: What is your aim and goal for the department? 

DJ: By preparing to launch new programs, we plan to have more permanent faculty members to enhance the dynamics and quality of our department, but also provide better care for students. Currently, we have seven permanent faculty members and close to 50 academic and professional adjunct faculty.

78: How are students able to contribute to the department? 

DJ: We organize many events where we invite experts, so our students can learn and have experience in their field of interest outside the classroom. For example, we had conferences on Behavioral Finance, the New Silk Road, Doing Business in Cuba, and the Future of the Petroleum Industry. Every event has a topic that we find essential for students to prepare for, as the field of business faces many changes along with the current situation in the world.