SC State’s ‘history dork’ inspired by those who ‘strive for peace and justice for
all’
Author: Sam Watson, Director of University Relations|Published: November 18, 2024|All News, Faculty & Staff News
Dr. Susan Kwosek joined SC State in 2019.
Dr. Susan L. Kwosek is SC State’s Professor of the Year for the College of Education,
Humanities and Social Sciences.
Note: This is the second in a series of articles about SC State’s 2024 Professors
of the Year.
ORANGEBURG, S.C. – As a historian and anthropologist, South Carolina State University’s Dr. Susan Kwosek
has spent her career looking for insight about a primary question regarding human
culture.
“When I began my academic career as a student at Northern Illinois University in 1999,
I hoped to find an answer to the question, ‘Why can’t we all just get along?’ To that
end, I focused on history and anthropology of race and religion,” Kwosek said. “After
18 years of school, 15 years of field research in Haiti and the United States, and
three degrees, I still do not know the answer.
“But the question still motivates me and leaves me inspired by people worldwide who
strive for peace and justice for all people,” she said.
Hailing from the Chicago area, she completed her Bachelor of Arts in anthropology
in 2003, her Master of Arts in anthropology in 2006 and her Ph.D. history in 2019
– from Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois. She joined SC State in 2019.
University Relations recently asked her a series of questions about her background
and her work at SC State.
Q: What led you to choose your field of study?
Kwosek: When I entered university as a freshman, I selected physical anthropology as my major,
based on the popular television program "CSI." After taking several anthropology courses,
I discovered that living cultures were more fascinating than the physical human body,
and I switched to the study of religion. Religious culture has been my foci in both
the anthropological and historical disciplines.
Q: How would you describe your teaching philosophy?
Kwosek: History is constantly unfolding behind us and as an area of study historians are constantly
revisiting the past with new insights from the present. What we learned as fact as
students of history a decade earlier may today be open for debate.
As a teacher my role is to take part in these academic debates with my students and
to help them create historical context based not on their personal beliefs alone but
also on the concrete actions taken by historical figures both great and small. My
primary goal is not only to introduce students to the “facts” of history but to drive
them to think about the interaction of various individuals, governments, economies,
social, and cultural realities that resulted in historical choices by actors engaged
in the course of history.
My secondary goal is to encourage students to realize that they too are historical
actors and that the present is a result of those past actors who may have had very
little insight into the courses of action that might have resulted from their decisions
to act or not to act at any given time.
Q: What drives you as a teacher and/or researcher?
Kwosek: I am a self-proclaimed "history dork." History is my passion, and I am constantly
driven to build bridges between the past and the present; to apply historical facts
to help address the problems of today. As a teacher my goal is to pass my passion
for history on to my students. Today's students will become tomorrow's leaders, and
my hope for each of them is that they will take the skills they learned in class and
use them to rock the world.
Q: What in your career are you most proud of?
Kwosek: My personal source of pride and job satisfaction grows with each of my students that
graduate with a university degree. They are the reasons I do the work I do. While
I find research fascinating and enjoy the research process, I am most proud of touching
the hearts and minds of so many students.
Q: What has been your most exciting or valuable experience in your career at SC State?
Kwosek: I began at SC State one semester before the COVID-19 shutdowns. When universities
across the country were pivoting to distance education, I was able to hit the ground
running because I already had experience with developing asynchronous online courses.
It was exciting to be able to offer my expertise to the university and its students
during that especially challenging time.
Q: Tell about a personal challenge you have encountered and how it affected your life.
Kwosek: I am hearing impaired. I wear hearing aids in both ears, but sadly, they are not magic.
I struggle daily to hear some soft-spoken students in class, and to hear at all over
the telephone. But my disability should not also disable my colleagues or students.
My hearing impairment has affected my life in that I am always trying to find creative
solutions so that I can understand others. Everyone deserves to be heard.
Q: Tell us an anecdote from your life that would allow people to know you better.
Kwosek: When I was a graduate student in anthropology, I knew I was required to embed myself
in a different culture for an extended time and take part in daily life as a participant-researcher.
I wasn't sure how I would manage that as a married mother of one.
One of my friends returned from a wedding in New Orleans and brought my son a souvenir
voodoo doll. Since that moment, my research communities have been Voodoo practitioners in Haiti and New Orleans. I am literally a Voodoo researcher, and I
love demystifying this African-derived religion in my research and teaching.
Q: Is there anything else we should know about you and your experiences at SC State?
Kwosek: I am very proud to have been the Professor of the Year from the College of Education,
Humanities, and Social Sciences. Being nominated for this honor by a colleague was
a high mark in my professional career. Most professors can gauge their success by
the success of their students, or the publication of their research, but to have a
colleague recognize my contribution to the department and the university is an amazing
experience.
