Clara Kawanishi

What is your advising philosophy? I encourage students to take ownership of their education. Your education is more than a degree. It's not only identifying a subject to study, but also understanding how you can and why you want to learn.

What was your path to Newnan? I grew up in Honolulu, went to college in New Haven, worked in arts administration and did a lot of volunteering and community service in Seattle, drove cross country with the help of my sister to Ann Arbor for graduate school, advised undergraduates in Berkeley for a little while, and moved back to Michigan.

What do you enjoy about working in Newnan? My work gives me daily opportunities to help others, and it nurtures my curiosity and creativity.

Class you loved and why? Consumer Culture in Literature and Film. We read Susan Sontag, Emile Zola, and Freud, and we watched movie musicals starring Judy Garland and Fred Astaire!