Reflections: Pauline Christiansen

Pauline Christiansen
English Instructor

Pauline Christiansen started at BCC in 1967. She has fond and funny memories of her first few years at the college. "The faculty were all squished into two portables," said Pauline. "It was such a tight squeeze, we had to coordinate with other teachers at nearby desks when we wanted to get up."

Pauline taught an interdisciplinary class with Kae Hutchison and Bob Purser before there was such a concept. During her entire career at BCC, Pauline has been a trailblazer, pioneering with new ideas. "Most of the teachers at that time were very young — often younger than our students. We looked at it as our way to teach students what we wished we had learned."

When they moved onto the main campus, Pauline was among the teachers without offices. The portables were moved from Newport High School to the new campus (they were located where the L Building is today). It was quite a hike from her office to the A Building where she taught. "Especially since we had to walk on wooden planks (necessary because of the boggy ground) through the woods — it was a long way to the nearest bathroom," said Pauline.

Pauline was the original head of the English department. However, after her husband's sudden death, she took a sabbatical, and she and her son moved to Switzerland. While she was there, she taught English at an international school. In 1972, she returned to teaching at BCC.

Pauline jumped right back into the swing of things, making good use of the latest technology to help her students. "Technology is a great supplement to teaching," she said. When Chester was popular on campus, Pauline made video lessons on punctuation available for her students — she soon became known to some as "the punctuation lady."

Among her other accomplishments, Pauline was one of the first BCC teachers to have a book published. It was on English composition. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, she had some papers published at national conventions, and gave almost 20 workshops. She was eager to use computer programs, and developed an interactive program that taught active and passive voice in a storybook style.

"BCC is an exciting place to work. We've always been encouraged to try new things, and that original enthusiasm is still alive in the faculty," she said. "However, the best thing about BCC is the people — always has been, still is."

Pauline was one of the first recipients of the Margin of Excellence awards. She also was instrumental in the development of the English department website.