Michael T. Braun - 2006

Biography

What career pathway have you pursued since your time in the UW–Madison English major?

First and foremost, I had no thought that I work in book publishing, let alone own a book publishing company! It goes to show that careers can only fit a narrative by looking back. The twists and turns of post-college life can be entirely unpredictable.

I didn’t have any career in mind when choosing English as my major. It was simply the best way to take classes I loved with passionate, fascinating professors, and to study a subject in which I excelled. With my technology work during college as an Apple Campus Representative and technology manager for the Daily Cardinal, I was able to get a job at Epic working in technical services. I met my girlfriend (now wife) there, and she convinced me we should leave and go to graduate school.

In 2008, I started my PhD program in communication science through the Department of Communication Arts. It was a quantitative research program, which meant statistics courses every semester. What do quantitative research and English literature have in common? Believe it or not, so much! Nothing taught me better to draw conclusions from the evidence available (not the evidence that you wish you had) than my English major. Nothing helped me understand the balance between objective truth and subjective interpretation than my English major. And nothing helped me excel as a writer and trusted editor for my professors than my English major.

After completing my PhD in 2013, I had jobs in teaching and research. In 2024, I jumped at a completely unexpected opportunity to purchase and run Orange Hat Publishing, Wisconsin’s largest independent book publisher. I also accepted a position as an adjunct professor at the Milwaukee School of Engineering, teaching writing. Both these roles remind me every day of the value of my English major.

What did you enjoy about the English major?

The best thing about being an English major is that your classes are literally reading, talking, and writing about fascinating books with experts. I wish I could be continually taking an English class. Most of my favorite professors have retired or moved on. I think back to Richard Knowles in English 219 (first half of Shakespeare’s plays) giving amazing, dramatic readings; showing us how to cut up our complete works tome to make it more portable; advising, “If you work steadily, you never have to work hard”; and reminding us that doctor in Latin means teacher, “not those quacks who cut people open.” I think of Rebecca Walkowitz (now at Barnard) and her class “Englishness and Jewishness.” One of my favorite TAs Taryn Okuma recommended her class, and Dr. Walkowitz started it with a clip from Da Ali G Show, which set the tone for an amazing semester.

Leslie Bow introduced me to favorite author Susan Choi in her class on Asian American Literature, a class that featured some of the most invigorating discussions and debates. Caroline Levine (now at Cornell) was one of the most thrilling lecturers I had. Thomas Schaub’s two classes on contemporary American literature were an absolute blast, including hilarious quotes (“I bought a Smith Corona typewriter in 1963. In 1976, I wrote my

dissertation on it. This computer thing is a scam, don’t you think?”—Yes, this stuck with me so much I wrote it down), challenging discussions, and his comment, “This is the best paper I’ve read on this book” for my essay on “The Crying of Lot 49” by Thomas Pynchon. I felt so bad that I had done the WORST job proofreading it as evidenced by his many red circles. Last, teaching assistant Taryn Okuma (now associate professor at Catholic University of America) in Grace Hong’s (now at UCLA) Intro to American Literature class did endless amounts to improve my writing and convinced me to major in English. What good fortune I had to encounter so many amazing teachers.

Other majors, certificates, or key points of involvement during time at UW:

I really loved my time working as technology manager at the Daily Cardinal. Today’s newspapers (student-run and otherwise) are very different, and it may be hard for students to imagine there were once two campus papers publishing print editions five days a week! I loved supporting that mission by being on call to fix computer issues whenever needed, usually late at night!

How did your time as an English major prepare you for your current work? What skills do humanities students bring to your industry?

Twenty years after graduating, and I’m now in a position with direct connection to my English major—assessing manuscripts to judge their readiness for publication, editing works, and so on! But even before this, my English major helped me in my work. For example, majoring in English shaped my research skills by teaching me to scrutinize evidence and prepare a convincing interpretation.

This is one of the most important skills that humanities students bring to the workplace: the ability to think clearly, understand the perspectives of others, and ultimately—quoting Adolph Gottlieb and Marcus Rothko—“make the spectator [reader, co-worker, customer, etc.] see the world our way—not his way.” These skills will put humanities students above most others in the workplace.