While some alums rough it out on the streets of Williamsburg, Katherine Bascom ’10 remains closely tied with her undergraduate roots, and now works as the 2010-2011 Russell House Fellow. The Argus sat down with her in the beautiful living room of Russell House, home of the Reading Series and the University Philosophy Department, to discuss her fascinating fifth year on campus.

Argus: Can you tell us what the Russell House Fellowship is all about?

Katherine Bascom: It’s a postgraduate fellowship with Wesleyan’s Writing Programs focusing on non-profit administration and event planning. Within that realm, you actually get a lot of autonomy in terms of the projects you want to take on. The main responsibility of the fellowship is running the Russell House Reading Series, which brings famous authors, journalists, and poets to campus every Wednesday. In everything I do, I work very closely with Professor Anne Greene, the director of Writing Programs at Wesleyan. Outside of the actual job, there’s also the opportunity to work on what you’re interested in, whether that be graduate work or continuing to study with the professors you’ve developed relationships with during your time here.

A: What are your primary duties as the Russell House Fellow, and what kind of projects are you working on?

KB: In terms of upcoming events, we have Michael Cunningham, the 2011 Annie Sonnenblick Visiting Writer, coming this Wednesday. Much of my job is working out the logistics of the event, such as dinners, technical needs, organizing event staff and photographers, and taking care of the authors when they’re on campus—some of whom are here for multiple-day visits. On a day-to-day basis I’m working on the most immediate event, but I also work on planning the details of writing events like the Wesleyan Writers’ Conference, which takes place this June.

A: Do you work with the Ford Fellows? If so, how does your job differ from theirs?

KB: The Ford Fellows’ focus is the Writing Workshop. They’re in charge of hiring and managing their staff of tutors and mentors, and that I’m not very involved with. But I help out where I’m needed—the other night we held a reception for all of the new writing mentors and I was there to help out, talk to people, and answer questions. I was a writing mentor for two years, so I try to assist the Ford Fellows when I can.

A: How did you decide to apply for the Russell House Fellowship?

KB: I actually went to Skidmore [College in Saratoga Springs, NY] my first year before transferring here. My sophomore year I lived at 230 Washington St., so I went to nearly every Russell House event because it was so close. And that’s where I met Lucia Pier ’08, the second Russell House Fellow. I started working for her as an assistant. Last year I worked for my friend Jess Posner ’09 [the 2009-10 Russell House Fellow] as an event assistant. I feel completely comfortable running the events this year because I’ve had so much experience.

A: While you were still a student here, what kind of activities were you involved in?

KB: Even though I was an English major, I did a lot of work in the studio art department. I was a TA for Drawing II; I took tutorials with Keiji Shinohara, the woodblock professor, and I’m actually taking a tutorial with him again this year. That’s one of the awesome things about the fellowship. If you have close professor relationships that you formed during your time at Wes, you can continue those during your year [as the Russell House Fellow] in an even more intense and in-depth way than before. I also worked with the Farmer’s Market, and I was the Market Master for about a year and a half. I did a lot of community service my sophomore and junior years and then focused more on the Farmer’s Market–I was looking to launch it as a steady aspect of the campus community. My senior year I started volunteering for Shining Hope for Communities (SHOFCO) and this year I’m still working with them as much as I can.

A: The Russell House Fellowship allows for one to do graduate work in addition to the main duties of the fellowship—have you been working on any graduate work?

KB: To be honest, between the TA job, working with my printmaking professor, and volunteering for Shining Hope, that’s my time. So I’m not taking any classes this semester, but you can. If you’re a fellow, it’s definitely encouraged to take a class or to continue whatever area of academic interest you have.

A: Have there been any downsides to staying on campus for an extra year?

KB: My housing actually worked out really well this year. I’m living on Home Avenue in an off-campus house with four other people who also graduated last year. We live together really well and it’s nice to be a part of the Wesleyan scene when I want to be, but also have housemates who are a little more domestic than typical Wesleyan students. It’s really helpful to have their support, and I definitely don’t feel isolated at all.

A: What are your plans for after you leave Wesleyan?

KB: I don’t know yet, but I definitely want to take a yoga teacher training program. I’ll also be teaching at Penland School of Crafts, which is an arts school in North Carolina, with my printmaking professor this summer. I’m very interested in nutrition, agriculture, farming, and sustainability. Yoga is something I’ve gotten more into this past year and something I’d really like to seriously pursue because of its incredible transformative power; it is both a physical science for keeping your body at its prime and a mental practice that carries strength and clarity into the rest of your life. Now that is something I find worth pursuing.

A: What has it been like “being on the other side,” i.e. viewing the University from the viewpoint of an administrator rather than a student?

KB: It’s very cool. I have a phone—a landline, so I call people all the time and my name comes up on their caller ID. [Laughs] When you’re a student, you don’t really know who to ask or how stuff gets done, so I feel like, especially for student groups, it’s very hard to arrange events because you don’t know who the “key players” are in the administration. With this job, now I know all the key players, so if I need something for my events I know who to call. I have a different professional relationship with administrators, so my voice is heard a little bit louder. Wesleyan is a small place, a lot of people know each other, and you realize that developing personal relationships with people is how the world works and how stuff gets done.