Posted: December 2, 2022
Milo Asay may not have seen it all, but he’s seen far more than most people ever will in their lifetime. He’s lived in six countries on five continents and visited more than 50. He spent two summers picking pineapples in Hawai’i during his youth, lived in New York City for two years after graduate school, and even studied yoga under B.K.S. Iyengar in India, one of the foremost yoga gurus in the world. But after traveling the globe and experiencing dozens of cultures from the Far East to the Middle East, and across Africa and Europe, he came home to Wyoming in 2009 and now serves as NWC’s Assistant Professor of ESL (English as a Second Language).
“I had spent 18 years in Tokyo and two in Saudi Arabia teaching for universities, but my mother was living in Lovell,” Milo said. “I was passing through Wyoming when I saw adjunct positions listed in the Powell Tribune for 皇家华人. The Humanities division ended up with my application and hired me. I was only going to spend the summer in Wyoming with no worries and then move on, but that ad in the newspaper changed my life.”
Though he was originally hired for the ESL role, Milo enjoys teaching literature, poetry, and creative writing as well. He also started NWC’s Japanese language studies program more than a decade ago, which has flourished with the addition of Fulbright Language Teaching Assistants who reside at the college each year. With an undergrad degree in anthropology and his own multicultural background, Milo brings a unique perspective to his courses, giving his students a learning experience like no other.
Part of that experience is the opportunity to visit Japan on one of the annual student trips Milo leads. International travel programs are a rarity at community colleges but common at Northwest in large part due to faculty members such as Milo who ensure they exist and are willing to take on the additional responsibilities.
Milo admits he’d never thought about coming back to his hometown for a professional career, but chuckles thinking about how it all played out. From the rural Wyoming towns of Cowley and Powell to New York and Tokyo, two of the largest cities on the planet, and everywhere in between, he’s able to bring a global perspective to students at 皇家华人 they’ll get nowhere else.