Staff Profiles

More than 100 staff members work in the Division of the Humanities. We’ll introduce you to our staff in this continuing series.

Michael Fischer
Senior Program Manager
Creative Writing Program

What do you like most about your job?

I enjoy being around creative writers, whether it is visiting authors or our faculty. Our group of faculty differs from most academic departments. While we certainly have our share of folks with PhDs and traditional academic backgrounds, writing is a hustle. That means we also have folks whose last job before teaching was waiting tables. I like that dynamic.

What was the last good book you read?

I read a ton and have awful reading comprehension, so even a good book often doesn’t stay with me for long. But the last awesome book I remember reading was Heavy by Kiese Laymon. Kiese is a genius, with a MacArthur Fellowship to prove it. His memoir is the one book I recommend to people regardless of their interests and feel confident they’ll like it.

You might work with me if …

Your curricular programming intersects with the Creative Writing Program's courses or faculty, you would like our financial or promotional support for events, you want to use Taft House for any reason, or you have something for our newsletter.

If you could instantly become an expert in something, what would it be? Why?

Woodworking. I would love to work with my hands and have something tangible to show for my labor, instead of just a bunch of emails and digital files. I think it would be meditative. And it would allow me to exist inside of a housebuilding/restoration montage, like Ryan Gosling when he restored that old falling-down house in The Notebook.

More than 100 staff members work in the Division of the Humanities. We’ll introduce you to our staff in this continuing series.

Annie Diamond

Academic Affairs Coordinator

Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations (NELC)

What do you like most about your job?

I live in Hyde Park and have since I moved to Chicago; one of my favorite things about my job is that I can walk to it! Within my job, I like that I get to experience the administrative side of academia after having been a student for most of my life. It’s pretty fascinating to see on this side of the curtain, so to speak. My role as academic affairs coordinator for the Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations (NELC) department is a new one (I am the first person to have it) and I am frequently getting feedback from professors that they are very grateful I’m here and doing my job; that’s the best, to be acknowledged and to feel actually helpful and useful.

What was the last good book you read?

The last good book I read is called Bridge of Words: Esperanto and the Dream of a Universal Language by Esther Schor. It’s a nonfiction book about the history of Esperanto, the most successful constructed language in the world, and its inventor, Ludwik Zamenhof. It combines history and memoir; Schor writes of her own experiences as an Esperantist as well as the political, organizational, artistic history of the language. I first learned about Ludwik Zamenhof in 2017 when I was living in Poland and have been fascinated with him ever since; he was a Polish Jewish ophthalmologist who lived from 1859 to 1917 and believed that an international language would help rid the world of war. He was nominated 12 times for the Nobel Peace Prize. This book has gotten me to start learning Esperanto on Duolingo!

You might work with me if …

You might work with me if you have been newly hired in NELC, if you are working on a NELC search committee, or if you are a job candidate for a position in NELC who has been invited for a campus visit. I am involved with all the administrative aspects of faculty searches and faculty reviews in NELC, but my role is not student-facing at all.