Welcoming Tomas Unger
By OSCAR BURNES ‘21
New faculty faces are one of the many aspects that distinguish this year from the last. While the school year is still just beginning, The Milton Paper is continuing its series on introducing new faculty to the student body. For this piece, you will meet the newest member of the Milton Academy English department: Tomas Unger ‘08.
Mr. Unger received his Bachelor’s degree in English from Yale University and his Master of Fine Arts in Poetry from Boston University. At Yale, he received the John Hubbard Curtis Prize for Excellence in English as well as the J. Edward Meeker Prize for Poetry, two esteemed awards given at the end of the Yale school year.
At BU, Mr. Unger was a Robert Pinsky global fellow. This prestigious fellowship program allows participants to go to any country for a typical stay of 3 months to broaden and improve their writing abilities; this opportunity took Mr. Unger to London, England. Mr. Unger’s obvious success in his academic career set the stage for his professional career path.
After a great experience with the Milton Academy English department, all Mr. Unger knew was that he wanted to do something centered around English. He had known he wanted to major in English, but he “didn’t have a sharp sense of what form [it] would take.” His original thought process was to go to graduate school and then join the publishing world, but one different experience stuck in his mind.
In his graduate program, Mr. Unger had his first experience with in-class teaching when he taught students creative writing. He thoroughly enjoyed helping students grow their voices on paper. Although he didn’t go straight to teaching, the experience stuck with Mr. Unger and, eventually, after his time in publishing and law firms, he returned to Milton.
Mr. Unger is teaching an interesting mix of classes: two freshmen English courses, a sophomore Founding Voices course, and a senior Themes in the Contemporary World Literature course. The variety of courses gives Mr. Unger “a nice spread that gives [him] a sense of all the grades.” All of his classes have been going well so far and he “still see[s] the strength in academics that [he] saw when [he] was a student at Milton.
Mr. Unger’s main goal is to make all of his students feel comfortable bringing their voice to the table and engaging with the course. In all of his courses, Mr. Unger’s emphasis on creating a positive environment for his students’ growth stays constant. And so far, his goal seems to have been achieved.
Outside of school, Mr. Unger continues his passion for writing. Generally, his interests lead to “an arts-heavy non-Milton life,” one mainly centered around English. He writes photography criticism for a magazine and writes about movies as well. Mr. Unger is big into music with an interesting passion for Indian classical music. Mr. Unger also has an identical twin who works at a law firm in Boston.
Without any knowledge of his background or career, one can clearly perceive Mr. Unger’s natural gift for English based solely upon hearing his eloquence. The awards and impressive resume just back up that impression. We welcome Mr. Unger back to Milton this year, and once again, if you see him around, just say hi.
Image courtesy of mymilton