As a high school senior, Samanthan Kapp-Williamson, ’11, wasn’t sure how she wanted her future to look, or what she wanted to do with her life and career. But there were a couple of things she did know: “Muskingum […] was by far the most beautiful campus I visited,” and she thought that “Muskingum would give me a chance to learn more about the many things I was passionate about.”
Kapp-Williamson, who is from Plain City, Ohio, ended up majoring in English literature. Following graduation, she joined AmeriCorps VISTA for a year and volunteered in Morgantown, West Virginia to work at Literacy Volunteers, a nonprofit dedicated to teaching reading and writing skills to ESL students and native English speakers. Following her stint with Literacy Volunteers, she worked at the National Center of Excellence in Women’s Health at West Virginia University in a program dedicated to rural women’s health initiatives across the state.
After her year with Americorps, Kapp-Williamson attended Kent State University to get her Masters in Library and Information Science. She says, “I wanted to turn my English degree into something practical that I would really enjoy and could use to improve the life of others.” While at Kent, she was a graduate student assistant in Special Collections and Archive at the university library.
Following her 2014 graduation from Kent State, Kapp-Williamson worked for three years as the Law Librarian at Union County. She was recently appointed as the new Director of Library and Museum Services at Urbana University, where, she says, “I oversee all library functions and the Johnny Appleseed Museum. I manage student workers and have one full-time and two part-time staff members.”
Of her time on Muskingum’s campus, Kapp-Williamson says, “I never anticipated being so social and active in so many clubs. I was a very introverted person in high school and everyone was so welcoming and made me feel comfortable that I really became who I wanted to be. Everyone at Muskingum is accepted for who they are.”