Macon State College MVPs is a web feature that profiles notable students, alumni, faculty and staff.
Dr. Heather Braun is the 2012 recipient of the Outstanding Scholarship Award, given each year to one faculty member.
Full Name: Heather L. Braun
Family: Husband, Chris Horne; daughter, Madeline Olivia Horne (born 12/6/10); mother, Pamela Draper; grandfather, Harold Sells; brothers, Darren (twin) and Erik.
Originally From: Columbus, Ohio, and Matawan, N.J.
Residence: Macon.
Job Title: Assistant Professor of English.
Degrees: Ph.D. in English from Boston College (2007); master’s in English from Claremont University (1999); bachelor of arts in English from Lafayette College (1997).
Year she joined the Macon State faculty: 2007.
Career Highlights: “Helping put together Crossroads, Macon’s first writers’ conference, and having students tell me it inspired them to change their major to English; starting Macon State’s first chapter of Sigma Tau Delta, the international English honor society, and establishing local literacy partnerships; and being honored by my colleagues with the 2012 Outstanding Scholarship award, a humbling experience since I’ve seen firsthand the talent and productivity that exists here.”
She enjoys teaching at Macon State College because ... “Students here have real responsibilities and aspirations, which translates into more accountability and a diminished sense of entitlement. They earn my respect by demanding I make everything I teach relevant and meaningful outside the classroom."
Her favorite course to teach is ... “In the summer of 2010, during study abroad in London, I taught British literature and a Special Topics course called 'The Fatal Woman in Literature and Film' to students from all over Georgia. We visited the homes of Dickens and Keats, stood together as groundlings at the Globe Theatre’s Macbeth, became regulars at the V&A and the Tate, and lamented together when our five-week British voyage came to an end.”
One thing people don't know about Macon State is ... “The faculty at Macon State are top rate and surprisingly modest about their achievements. As chair of the Institutional Review Board, I’ve had the pleasure to see proof of this across campus as well. I believe the dedication of our faculty has helped make a Macon State degree more challenging and worthwhile.”
One thing people don't know about her is ... “I backpacked alone through Europe. This isn’t unusual, but most people make some sort of plan. I didn’t. I jumped on and off trains, got lost on purpose, and talked to strangers on a regular basis. No matter where I travel from here, I’ll never again do so with quite the same spontaneity and naïve abandon.”
In her spare time she likes to ... “Run, read (everything from Wuthering Heights to The Week), and play outside with my daughter, who still thinks the grass and flowers were put there just for her.”
The one person she'd most like to meet is ... “It’s a toss up between Victorian writer Mary Coleridge and Bon Jovi - but only during his Dead or Alive phase (what can I say - I’m a Jersey girl).”
If she wasn't a college professor she would be ... “My husband would probably say a truck driver because during finals, I sometimes get nostalgic for missed career opportunities. When I worked for Upward Bound at UC Davis, I drove a 20-person van and took the same test that truck drivers take. Just one little air brakes test (and a pile of phone books) separated me from an 18-wheeler and the open road.”