Two Profiles: Law School and Graduate Study in English (05-31-99)

OSU English majors enter many different professions and professional schools, in Oklahoma, across the United States, and in other parts of the world. 1997 graduates Pat Krupiki and Tol Foster are pursuing postgraduate degrees in two fields most traditionally associated with the English major: law and graduate study in English.

Pat Krupiki began at OSU as a non-traditional student, having already had a family and a career. Her intelligence and hard work won her the Sandra Drew Fellowship and an Honors degree. She finished her OSU BA in English with an Honors thesis on Zora Neale Hurston and Alice Walker (directed by William Decker). As the only student from Oklahoma and one of the few students from a state institution, Pat reflects that her first-year success at Boston College School of Law is attributable to "the quality education at OSU" and her "English professors who supported me personally and gave me the confidence to reach beyond my grasp." Pat is active in Boston assisting Haitian immigrants with the legal complexities of immigration and also volunteers at the Mass Council for Fair Housing which aids victims of discrimination. In what little spare time she has, she's becoming a true Bostonian by learning to ice skate and cheering for the Red Sox and the Boston College hockey team.

Tol Foster, selected 1997 Outstanding Senior by the English Department, has gone on to graduate study at the University of Wisconsin in Madison where he is specializing in Native American Literature. Of his progress in this highly selective graduate program, Tol says that he is simply "absurdly lucky," but his teachers and friends know that it follows years of steady growth as a scholar. Before finishing with an Honors degree and a thesis on the contemporary American writer Tim O'Brien (directed by Brewster Fitz), Tol also served as a counsellor at the Johns Hopkins University summer program for gifted teenagers and participated in a student exchange program with Rutgers University. He identifies the "two major keys to success" as "a determination to insert your personal desires, dreams, and ambitions into the classroom and a demand for excellence in yourself and in your teachers."

English Department
College of Arts & Sciences
Oklahoma State University
205 Morrill Hall
Stillwater, OK 74078
Phone: 405-744-9474
For Information about English Programs: english.information@okstate.edu
Webmaster: engweb@okstate.edu