ssistant English Professor Elizabeth Winkler spends ample time in her basement office in Cherry Hall, surrounded by bookshelves and filing cabinets filled with information on linguistics. More specifically, she studies the Creole language, a language with a mixture of French and Spanish words and sounds mostly found in Haiti and New Orleans.

But she doesn’t just sit around and read about new trends within languages. She boards planes to Creole-speaking countries such as Haiti.

While she is well-traveled, she puts those frequent flyer miles to educational use.

Winkler learns how different countries use the Creole language and writes articles about her research. She then brings it to the classroom.

While she might be one of a handful of people who actually study Creole usage, she is not the only professor who researches selected topics in their field for publication.

Western encourages professors to publish work in their field, and it can be whatever type of writing that fits them, Provost Barbara Burch said.

“It is very important for professors to publish their work to give meaning and credibility to their fields and classrooms,” Burch said.

Burch said opportunities for faculty to research and publish helps Western become a more credible university with diverse ranges of information.

“If we did not have professors publish their research, it would make our school a lesser quality of faculty,” she said. “It helps students to have a higher quality of education.”

Most of the time professors spend hours on research in a smaller section of their field, Winkler said.

“Students don’t understand how much research their professors do,” Winkler said. “It helps us as professors to stay current in our field and allows us to know more than what was available 20 years ago.”

The research professors do helps bring new information to their fields and is supposed to benefit students who take specialized courses.

“It is great to have that outside experience,” she said. “It is better to come back to my students with something interesting that I found and it makes things more real life. The research I do helps give me an authentic voice.”

Professors having specific knowledge helps bring more information to students, Winkler said.

“This helps increase the body of knowledge on campus by having professors research and publish,” she said. “Western is not a research institute, therefore it helps students because professors can spend more time educating students rather than researching for publication.”

Jane Olmsted, English professor and women’s studies director, has published three collections of Kentucky writing and several journal articles. To keep their jobs, professors must “publish or perish,” she said.

To become published, most professors start with researching different publications that have the audience with their specific interest of their subject.

Manuscripts must be sent out to specific publication companies. The process is like a job interview in which the writer presents his or her work. Most manuscripts are rejected.

The publishing industry is very competitive and unless the article is fresh and new to the publication, the editors will not find it relevant to the journal, Olmsted said.

“Every journal has their own voice and vision and unless the writer matches that, they will be overlooked,” she said.

Bowling Green junior Jenny Gray said that she doesn’t normally choose her professors based on if they are published or not. She doesn’t check to see if they are published. But if they are, it helps her feel like she is getting the best education possible.

“I think it’s an option that can broaden the study of their area and make them more informed,” Gray said. “It makes me feel like they are credited and I feel like I am getting the best out of my classes.”

Reach Jill Erwin at diversions@chherald.com.