News Release

MADISON, WI, JANUARY 14, 2008 -- A recent article by Agronomy Professor Steve Simmons, published in the Journal of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Education, describes the use of memoir writing in three undergraduate courses at the University of Minnesota. Each of these courses explored the importance of “place” and “time” in agriculture, society, and one’s personal life, and featured writing of extensive memoirs.

Dr. Simmons says, "Such memoir writing provides a framework for students to bring their lives and experiences into courses and helps them to develop important reflection skills."

One student noted that reflecting through the writing of memoir “…has not only given me insight on my past, but on my future.” Another student echoed this when she observed, “I can honestly say that this is the first class that has taught me to think critically… a new skill to take with me that will bring deeper meaning to each experience I encounter.”

The courses in which Dr. Simmons used memoir writing have, to date, served a total of 45 undergraduate students from 5 colleges within his university. In addition to memoir writing, each course also used field trips and other class activities.

Some class sessions considered events of special importance to agriculture such as one that examined the implications of “Black Sunday” (April 14, 1935), the date of one of the most devastating storms of the Dust Bowl period in the Great Plains.

There were many beneficial outcomes for the students who experienced these courses and wrote memoirs. One student remarked, “What this course has taught me, then, is how to reflect—to make meaning of something that I may have already known,” which is similar to the observation of well-known memoirist, Patricia Hampl: “…I don’t write [memoir] about what I know, but in order to find out what I know.”

Dr. Simmons concludes, "A memoir is different than other term papers or types of academic writing in that it is not just about a student—it is that student—and that makes a difference in how the work is perceived both by the student and by others."

Dr. Simmons contends that all students in any university, regardless of major or professional field, deserve the opportunity to benefit from writing memoir in the context of their academic pursuits, and using such work for the purpose of making meaning of their lives.