COA writing program director Anne Kozak is the 2016 Commencement Grand Marshall. Credit: Josh Winer ’91
After nearly 40 years at COA, writing professor Anne Kozak will have the honor of playing a lead role in the annual commencement ceremony. She will lead the processional march of the 2016 graduating class, including two students receiving Master of Philosophy degrees, at this year’s event.
Kozak has been an influential part of the COA community since she first started working here in 1978. Kozak, professor of writing and composition, is responsible for starting the COA Writing Center in 1980 and for helping countless students find their voices and improve their writing.
She is grateful for the opportunity to take a lead role in the commencement ceremony, she says.
“It will be a chance for me to extend a welcome on behalf of the graduates, many of whom I have worked with closely over the years,” Kozak says. “It will also be an opportunity to thank parents for giving us, the faculty, the opportunity to teach and mentor their children—they give us a great responsibility and we take it seriously.”
Originally from Providence, Rhode Island, Kozak came to COA with an enthusiasm for English, specifically syntactical organization. Kozak developed her deep-rooted interested in syntax when she focused on the syntactical structure of Alexander Pope’s works for her master’s thesis at St. Louis University. Her passion for syntax grew when she worked as an editor for the University of Notre Dame Press.
She gains much satisfaction from her work with the COA community she says.
“I find the work with the writing tutors and the kinds of reciprocal relationships you can build with students here very rewarding,” Kozak says. “We work together as a team; we are unified in our efforts to help students write more effectively.”
“It will be a chance for me to extend a welcome on behalf of the graduates, many of whom I have worked with closely over the years. It will also be an opportunity to thank parents for giving us, the faculty, the opportunity to teach and mentor their children—they give us a great responsibility and we take it seriously” - Anne Kozak.
In addition to her committed involvement with the COA community, Kozak consistently works to continue her own writing projects. She recently published a book, “The Wild Gardens of Acadia,” which is the first formal evaluation of the history of the Wild Gardens. Her book is now available for sale at local shops and in the park. The Wild Gardens are a collection of native plant communities at Sieur De Monts Spring, featuring the unique biodiversity of Acadia National Park’s plants.
Kozak taught English courses at St. John Fisher College (Rochester, NY), Indiana University (South Bend, Indiana), and Lansing Community College (Lansing, Michigan) before finding her way to COA. At COA, Kozak teaches a collection of classes on writing and composition, including Advanced Composition, Technical Writing, Communicating Science, and Methods of Teachings Writing Across the Curriculum.
The commencement ceremony will begin at 2 p.m. on Saturday, June 4. The ceremony, held on the north lawn of COA’s Eden Street campus, will feature author and environmental justice advocate Barry Lopez as the commencement speaker.
