I have joined Susan Walsh in her small office, the walls of which are filled with hundreds of books encompassing all genres. Our conversation takes an unexpected turn when I discover The Art of the Matrix on her desk; we immediately discuss one of our favorite motion picture trilogies and in particular the character of Trinity. Professor Walsh explains that Trinity was not very well-developed in the Matrix saga, especially because she was such an important female character.
“We get the promise of a very strong woman,” she explains, “but then she was never actually realized. It’s disappointing because we don’t have enough well-written women in film.”
Although her encyclopedic knowledge of literature and film suggests otherwise, Walsh was not born in the university. “I come from a small town in the Rust Belt not too far from Pittsburg, where the major industries had been steel and glass,” she explains. “It had seen better days when industry was strong.” She recalls the summer she worked in a steel mill where temperatures reached “only” eighty degrees: “I’ll never forget one older employee who worked to support his children through college. He looked at me and said: ‘You’re here now, but it’s important for you to never come back.”
Walsh’s parents were the first in their families to attend college. Her father was a demolition expert who leveled the earth for coal mines while her mother had taught both English and French. She did not have a sense of direction early in college, feeling only a vague sense that she was not done learning. “I felt very old at the age of twenty-two, but it’s an illusion,” she explains. “When I was in graduate school, the pressure was on to get through my course work as quickly as possible so that I could compete in a shrinking job market. It was very Darwinian,” she says before recalling the moment when she decided to teach.
“I was working in the Talent Identification Program, an opportunity for gifted middle school students, kids who didn’t have appropriate resources. You can imagine all of these eccentric and excited kids coming to college campuses; they could do anything! They would respond to any exercise and tell you what didn’t work. Their exuberance and enjoyment made me a better teacher because the work of teaching really mattered to me.”
She attended Kenyon College for her undergraduate work before spending her senior year abroad at the University of Exeter. “I think everyone should study abroad if it’s all possible,” she says. She describes the “nostalgic fix” for undergraduate school and compares it to her work at the University of New Hampshire in Manchester: “What I like about this school is that the students are very motivated. They don’t take anything for granted. The students here are doing far more than just putting in their time. Some of the students at other colleges are known for never completing their reading assignments, but here, the students really do their work, and they enjoy it.”
When I ask how she interacts with the students, she explains that one of the best things about the UNH-Manchester campus is that the students have a real opportunity to get to know one another and their professors. “I’ve gotten to know almost everyone that I’ve met in class, which is something I really value. You don’t get that experience at the bigger universities.”
Walsh came to this college in 1990, “and things just opened up when this school was built. In the years that have followed, the school has developed in new directions that make it more and more deserving of its identity as part of the state’s flagship university.” She has equal praise for her colleagues, describing them as “highly credentialed experts”. She is quick to dismiss any suggestion that UNH-Manchester is only a commuter school, explaining that “the campus doesn’t have the vibe of a community college. There’s a big sense of community among the students and staff. The college’s size allows us to make a community of our own.”
As the interview concludes, Walsh leaves with a message for prospective students: “If you have a chance to grab this education, do it. Do it for yourself and for the young people in your life. Do for others what life has done for you.”
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