Jill Biden becomes English Society s Unexpected Guest Professor

The Rohs Street Café just across the street from the University of Cincinnati campus is the kind of place you might stop for a cup of joe, a fresh pastry and friendly conversation. Within those relaxing environs it wouldn’t be unusual to encounter an English professor and her students engaging their minds and indulging their appetites.

That was exactly the scene at the café on Feb. 22. Well, almost.

In this case the professor was Northern Virginia Community College English professor Jill Biden – more famously known as the second lady – and the students were members of the UC English Department’s Undergraduate English Society (UES). Another deviation from the typical coffeehouse calm was the conspicuous coterie of Secret Service agents milling about the regular patrons.

Biden was scheduled to give a presentation at another local university that day as part of her “Community College to Career” bus tour. Biden and her entourage stopped at the café for a pick-me-up, and as it turns out, the society was there at Rohs having its weekly meeting.

Karen Thoma, an English major and treasurer of the society, says she knew Biden would be in town but the rest of her group was unaware. They did find the security presence suspicious but never imagined they would actually bump into the U.S. vice president’s wife.

“We were having our weekly meeting there, and people were discussing all the security around the area as they came in,” Thoma says. “I mentioned that Jill Biden was supposed to be in town but never dreamed it would actually be her.”

Thoma marshaled the courage to ask one of the Secret Service agents if her group could get a photo with Biden. He asked, and Biden accepted. She sat with the group for about 15 minutes, taking photos and chatting. UES members Zohair Hussain, Ben Truax and Griff Brydon-Williams even read some of their work for her. Before long Biden was back on her bus and on her way, leaving an excited group of undergrads in her wake.

“We were still in that surreal moment,” Thoma says. “We wrapped up the meeting and went our way, because after talking to Jill Biden, what else can we do that compares to that?”

Thoma hopes to be a young adult fiction author, and she says English Department faculty such as Leah Stewart helped guide her toward that path. Her experience with UES and the English Department’s creative writing classes and workshops also helped her fine-tune her prose.

“Talking with professor Stewart showed me that I tend to write young adult fiction,” Thoma says. “Until that point I just wrote. I wasn’t aware who I was writing for. And as I’ve been to more workshops and classes, I’ve figured out this is my style.”

The Undergraduate English Society includes all English majors at UC and is open to anyone. The group gives English majors opportunities for social interaction and access to the valuable literary resources the UC community offers. Along with informal weekly meetings where members exchange feedback on each other’s work, the group organizes several events throughout the year, including literary open mic performances, and outings to plays and readings.

And you never know what visiting professor might show up.

For more information, go to the

society's web page

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