William Sweigart, associate professor of English, has held this position for 22 years and said his life was changed when he was in the Peace Corps for three years.

“Being in the Peace Corps made me realize what’s valuable in life,” Sweigart said. “It gave me a lens to view American Society and the over emphasis on capitalism.”

Sweigart is from Pennsylvania. Since then, he has lived in several other places. He lived in Liberia for three years, and he also lived in New York where he taught English. In 1972, he went to San Francisco to visit a friend and stayed there for 18 years.

Sweigart is also the academic adviser for the Gay Straight Alliance. He has been the head of this group for 20 years. Sweigart used his math minor and moved to Liberia where he taught math and science to high school students.

Sweigart got his undergraduate at IU of Pennsylvania.

“It has no affiliation with IU or Indiana,” Sweigart said.

He went to get his masters in literature at San Francisco State.

Sweigart has since taught at several other universities.

“This school seemed to be a good fit,”Sweigart said.

For this position, he had to stand out between seven interviews and 306 job applications. Sweigart said he decided to become an English professor because he enjoys writing.

“My Ph.D. focuses on writing,” Sweigart said.

He said he is also interested in how people learn to write, the curriculum on writing and the writing program administration.

“If I would not have become an English professor, I would have done something related to teaching,” Sweigart said. “Career Development or Human Resources would have been an option.”

In his free time, Sweigart enjoys camping, hiking and cooking. For the last 15 years, he has been going to music festivals.
“I like classical and popular music,” Sweigart said.

Sweigart said he attends the Louisville Orchestra every year.

Sweigart said he is a fan of the rock group Phish. Phish is from Vermont, and they began in 1988.

“I was a fan in the ’90s,” Sweigart said. “I wasn’t a groupie, but I heard them play a lot.”

His nephew, Kevin, is Sweigart’s biggest inspiration. Kevin passed away when he was 24 from cystic fibrosis.

“He was the wisest person I knew,” Sweigart said. “He lived his life in the moment despite his sicknesses.”

Sweigart said Kevin was funny, witty, loving and lived a great life.

“I couldn’t have done it,” Sweigart said.

By TIFFANY ADAMS

Staff

adamstif@ius.edu